Thank you for the thoughtful answers... and Sweeby, for the equally important question! I think I have been going back and forth (at least subconsciously) about who this party is for. DS was a very difficult child in his early years (basically until high school), so we are happy, and relieved!, that he has turned out well! So in part, this party is a celebration of that -- but we would never say to him what we're thinking, which is "We never thought we'd see this day!" But many of the adults in attendance know his story and will appreciate the significance of the day. So I think I am trying to combine the "toast the parents and the kid who have (all) worked so hard to get here" and the "have your friends come too, and celebrate just being done with high school" themes. I didn't even think about having a separate area for the teens, but that is a great idea. I'm trying to keep the party mostly outside, but the teenagers can congregate in the basement. I can put coolers of soda and bowls of chips and stuff down there. I also agree with hhireno that he should be capable of a brief speech to thank people for coming. I'm sure he'd do that. I'm thinking too, instead of the collage, I can put his 'school years' photos in small frames and scatter them around the tables. I think in the end, he'll roll his eyes but let me do what I want w/ the photos.

judie, maire cate, geogirl & work, Thanks so much for your helpful replies. I know I sound kind of dufus-ish asking this kind of question--I can hear it said in a creaky old voice "so gosh, what kind of contraptions are the young folks using these days?" : ) We're thinking of the laptop as being used for note-taking, primarily, rather than research like the school computers would be. Geogirl, your point about most kids still using regular notebooks is exactly what I was looking for. I do wonder what will happen if she's got nothing but pen and notebook, though -- I'm sure DD isn't the only one of her age to be better at typing than handwriting! When I hear her type I think how strange it was that I worked my way through college because of my typing speed--10 years of piano study didn't go to waste after all LOL...but today that ability is completely taken for granted. She could have asked her friend (who's a sophomore) a couple of weeks ago at camp, but she got shy and didn't (I think she's got a complete fear of coming across as a clueless homeschooler). Maybe this will be a good time for her to overcome her embarrassment and let her friend be her 'big sister' in a way...or maybe I'll call the office and ask myself. work, that's really interesting about not shopping for supplies until after school had started--makes sense. So all these 'back to school' sales where we used to get all our supplies (10 notebooks for $1 - ahhh...one of my favorite weeks of the year : )) are really jumping the gun for public schoolers, I guess? I know they had lists for elementary school kids, but I didn't remember whether there were some for h.s. kids too. This has all been incredibly helpful. Thanks again!

My favorites were Business Law (thought I wanted to be a lawyer at one time)and Business Mgmt. Even liked Accounting. Typing was what I use most now! I was in FBLA Future Business Leaders of America. Sociology was also interesting, but most people took it for an easy A. I got good grades all through high school, but I hated math Alegbra 2/Trig and sciences classes! I remember Psychology was offered my senior year and now I wish I had taken it as I loved it in college! My mom made me take Latin! I protested, since I already finished 3 years of Spanish, but now I understand why she wanted me to learn. Taking Latin first would have helped immensely with Spanish! I can't say I loved it, but it came in handy around SAT time! And it is the root of so many words (Legal/Medical fields) My 2nd year Latin Teacher was wonderful!! She was the kind that if you didn't do your homework, you felt like she was personally offeneded! And you definitely did not want to hurt her feelings! She cared about the kids doing well. She had cancer before she was my teacher, and it went into remission. I heard recently that it came back and she passed away-how sad!! The school lost an awesome lady that day! She was so loving and brave! There weren't many teachers that I felt cared so much about their kids! My Spanish teacher was a hysterical little man! He was quite short, so literally little. He was strict, made us recite oral presentations in front of the class (all in Spanish of course), so woe be to you if you weren't prepared, but he used to make up funny stories about living in a cave in Spain with his pirahnas. I think he did them to see if we were paying attention lol! And to this day I'll always remember how to say-Take out your homework and Do you have gum in your mouth?? Very useful, no? lol

Our school had a junior-senior prom. It was a small school so I guess they needed two classes to fill the Elks Club ballroom. Don't remember my gown or date my junior year. I'd have to get out the yearbook--wherever it is. :0 My senior year I was dating a guy from the next town. I was very small and we had a terrible time finding a gown to fit. I don't know why my mother didn't make it. She always made our clothes. About a month before prom, mother and daddy went to Columbus, Ohio to visit my aunt and uncle and mother found the prettiest dress. It was a size 3 and she had to alter it. It was short, dusty rose organdy with spaghetti straps (nothing to hold up a topless gown). Across the bodice was a row if deep rose and dusty rose organdy flowers that could be removed (I kept them). I loved that dress! My date brought me a corsage of pink baby roses with babies breath that I pressed and kept for years. After the prom ended at midnight (a treat for all of us to be up that late back then), the Seniors had an all-night party. It was also at the Elks Club. We all changed into bermuda shorts, which were the new hot thing, and danced, played games and ate until about 5 when they served us breakfast. It was a lot of fun and emotional because we were graduating and sure we'd never see each other again. You know how emotional HS girls can be. A lot of kids in my class ended up back in R-ville. Nice little town to raise a family. It'll be 50 years next month since that prom night. Sure wish I was going to the reunion in June!