What the boys are up to

Sidge earned his purple belt last night in karate. He is now three belts away from black! His older cousin, Gabe, really looks out for him and is sort of mentoring him on this journey. He is pictured above in the back corner. his teacher, Ben, is in the front right corner. John went to watch Sidge test last night. Ben told JB he really has the potential to go far with this if he wants due to his strength and his size. 

We don't do many "sports" in our family in the traditional sense. I've really tried to let my kids interests' lead what we do. The girls LOVE ballet. And while not a traditional sport, I can tell you that I have learned how difficult is by guiding my girls through it. Truly I think it may be more difficult than many traditional ball sports. But I'm not trying to get into a debate. 

Sidge continues to move forward with karate. Breaking his arm last year set him back quite a bit, but I think he's returned to his previous interest in it now. Isaac quit karate and is not doing any athletics anymore. I think getting his black belt will be a major accomplishment and also help him in his future job endeavors with the TWRA. (More on that in a second.)

Both boys are now sophomores, and it is exciting to see what their futures may hold. Sidge is planning on doing something next year called "middle college." This is where he will get his associates degree while in high school. It requires a lot of diligence as you are basically a full-time college student in high school, but he graduates with two years of college completed. He then plans to go to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville as a commuter student (it's about an hour from us) to get his biology degree. From there, he hopes to enter the TWRA. Once you have your degree in Biology, it is a 5.5 month program and you are essentially a wildlife officer. 

Isaac is going to lighten up on his school load and really dive into music and theatre during his last two years. He only needs about 7 more classes to graduate once he finishes this school years. He will do those and take a few of them at Walter State so that they apply to his college degree program. He is currently hoping to attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia which is about four hours from us in the fall. But, he has to get the money together for that as we are not paying for college. So we will see how that goes! He is currently mentoring with five different musician/theatre people in preparation for what he wants to do with his future.