I am of the mind that 4th grade is a huge transitional year.  Cameron is 9.  He lives in a home where most of his siblings are older than him, so he is usually surrounded by teens.  Lately he's been asking for underarm deodorant and cologne.  He's also been asking us to check to see if he has grown any underarm hair (yuck).

In schoolwork, he has been used to me being at his beck and call, but this year, as we are transitioning Isaac into "schoolwork", I've been depending more on Cameron to do as much of his work on his own as he can.  Schoolwork itself is in transition.  Where the last 2 years of math were parent led (complete with teacher manual), Saxon math moves to a regular textbook approach in year 5/4.  Math itself makes a huge transition!  From just reviewing basic addition and subtraction to things like dividing by 2 digit numbers; adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators; adding and subtracting decimal problems and even basic geometry.  That's a huge jump in material!

In reading, he is very capable of reading very large chapter books.  Now the challenge is getting him to have the patience to sit down and read them.  He is torn between things like comic books vs real chapterbooks.  In writing, he is expected to be able to write paragraphs -something he detests.

On top of all this, Cameron has gone from being the baby of the family to being a middle child in only a few short years.  To boot-he's sandwiched in between Alex and Isaac-two of the most wild and chaotic personalities in our entire family.  It's like being Pluto stuck in the middle of Jupiter and Saturn!  While he is wonderful, unique, and oh so very special, sometimes he feels like he is overshadowed by two suns!  I have to catch myself daily and remind myself that this is the son that usually needs me the most.  Now is the year when he's trying to start realizing who and what he is and where he's going. 

4th grade is turning out to be quite the adventure...