Homeschool Diplomas: Our Favorite Resources
- Missy Fox
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 11
Your homeschool diploma doesn’t need to be expensive to look professional! Here’s what we used to make classy and affordable ones ourselves.
Step 1: We designed our diplomas on Microsoft Word. (And by “we,” I mean my oldest daughter, the night before her homeschool graduation ceremony.) You could also use a free Canva account to make one.
Use the word-art feature on Microsoft Word to get the nice, arched school name.
Limit yourself to just a few fonts. Too many fonts makes it look messy. Our version is using Old English Text MT and Copperplate Gothic Light (and the town name is in Edwardian Script ITC).
Make sure you include:
school name
location
graduation date
parent signature(s) and title(s) (make up your own titles)
the words "High School Diploma" (so it doesn't look like you're awarding a bachelor's degree)
Step 2: Buy some gold seal stickers ($9.32 for 250) and an embosser ($16.99). We got ours from Southwest Rubber Stamp Company, but the ones on Amazon are much cheaper.
Embosser stamps are customizable; we got one with a tree to symbolize growth and we put “Soli Deo Gloria – To God Alone Be the Glory” around it. We also could have put our school name on it, but by leaving the name off, we can use the embosser for other purposes later.
Bonus: You can also use an embosser over signatures on your high school transcripts, if you like. Looks extra professional, for the rare occasion that someone asks for a physical copy of the transcript. If you want to do this, make sure you buy an embosser that slips onto the paper from the bottom of the page, rather than one that comes onto the paper from the top or side. This will also let you use the embosser on envelope flaps if you like.
Step 3: Buy a padded diploma cover ($6.98). The ones we got have a plastic sheet that slips over the paper diploma, and the padded cover is nice. You can pick whatever color you like.
The only disadvantage was that sometimes they arrived with bumped corners, but the supplier replaced them promptly, so not a problem. Just give yourself lead time in ordering in case you get one banged up in the mail.
Voila! Total diploma cost comes in at less than $14 per student, for a the average homeschool family with 4 kids. Plus, we used the embosser and leftover stickers to make diplomas for several dozen friends. If you make 100, the price drops to $7.24/student!
If designing your own diploma just isn't for you, though, you can always just buy one from someone else, I've heard good things about both Homeschool Diploma and Academic Excellence.
Remember that your student will not only need a DIPLOMA if he is graduating homeschool; he will also need a TRANSCRIPT… even if he doesn’t plan to go to college:
He might need a transcript for a job application,
OR he might change his mind 15 years from now and decide he wants to go to college after all and come to you asking for a transcript, and you will be 63 years old and have no recollection of anything you did in homeschool and be ready to strangle him.
So avoid familial violence; make the transcript now.
***CAVEAT***
Hate that I have to state the obvious, but no diploma is valid unless issued by someone with the right to issue it.
A person cannot award a diploma to himself.
Diplomas can only be awarded by valid educational organizations.
If you homeschool and you are in compliance with your state homeschool laws, then you are a valid educational organization, and you have the legal right to issue a diploma to students you are graduating.
However, if you just want to pretend you graduated from somewhere and make yourself a fake diploma, then that is fraud, illegal, and may God deal with you appropriately.
End of public service announcement.
For the rest of you valid homeschoolers graduating your first student - congratulations!! This diploma represents the culmination of God's faithfulness to you and your child! To God be the glory!
Photo credit:: www.kaboompics.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/women-in-their-graduation-gowns-8106682/
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