The End Is Near

This is it! The last week of the classes for this school year. Kaedo starts exams on Thursday and Sterling starts on Friday. The will both finish off early next week with Kaedo's first day of summer holidays being his 15th birthday! I cannot believe that come the fall I will have a 10th and 11th grader. How the hell did that happen?

It has been an exciting year for us. Kaedo started in a new school, in a new community, no longer 'Sterling's little brother', and has thrived both socially and academically. He has always had a lot of friends, but they were the same ones since Kindergarten. This year he went to a school where only 4 kids from his old school were going and there are close to 2000 kids there. He has done very well.  Now I must admit that fracturing your neck the first week of school at a school camp is probably not the best idea, but he loved the stories he heard floating around of how it happened. He had a lot of great classes and one horrible one which forced me to lodge a formal complaint against a teacher. He learned about what he likes to do but doesn't want to do as a career and got some ideas about what he might want to do as a career, which is a huge step for him. He gained a great reputation for being a kind and polite student and is well thought of by his teachers. High school has been a wonderful experience for him so far and we are thrilled with what he has accomplished.

Sterling has done amazing this year. Once again on the Honor Roll with his excellent marks. He decided on his post-secondary course of study and excelled in his classes surrounding that this year. He was offered many opportunities to join the Specialized High Skills Major field trips for 11th grade students (although he was only in 10th) and shined at an important event in Toronto early this Spring. He has been accepted to the High Skills Major Graphic Design program for the Fall and secured a Co-op placement doing design work at the college he hopes to attend. He joined the yearbook club and did amazingly well and loved it! He had the opportunity to photograph one of the sports teams in action for the yearbook and had a great time with that opportunity, taking 95 photos. His teachers tell me that he is an amazing young man, far more mature than his years and a pleasure to teach. He found a new love in World History and gave up and option for next year in order to take another History class.

I'm thrilled to say there were no romances this year. Thrilled! But I am not stupid enough to think I will be so lucky next year.  Homeschooling maybe?

The boys both continued with their volunteering (a mandatory 40 hours are needed in order to graduate) and I can tell you they both have over 200 so far. Kaedo is very involved involved in the Y, volunteering 12 hours a week and hoping to volunteer in a vet clinic through the Summer. Sterling is co-leading the youth program at his Y and volunteering with his Interact group.

There is much to say about the Summer excitement but I will bore you no longer. Needless to say, we have worked hard as a family to insure their success and are so very proud of them and the men they are becoming.