What is expected of your 4th grader/9-year-old?

Tony has started 4th grade. I know, here in the U.S. you may look at me cross-eyed and say, "But it's still July!" That's the value of homeschooling. We can start whenever we want!

So, we have started school. Since he is one year older and one grade higher than last year (duh!) I am expecting more from his this year over last.

Last year as a third grader I expected Tony to answer his questions in complete sentences. I expected him to complete his homework every night (comprehension questions from his reading lessons, and copying his spelling words), and I expected reasonable penmanship in his work. Any assignment below 85% was expected to be corrected and the average of the first score and second became his final grade.

This year as a fourth grader, Tony earns a penmanship, language and spelling grade for each subject. Then all the spelling grades are averaged for his overall daily spelling grade, the penmanship grades are averaged as are the language grades. In grading his work for the language grade, I look mostly at capital letters, commas, periods, proper sentence structure and the like.

He's fretting under the system right now, but I am being firm. If he makes a tour choir this next season (and we will find out in 20 days), he will be required to write thank-you notes to the hosts of the homes he stays in. He will need to make sure his handwriting is legible, his sentences are correct and his spelling is accurate. It's hit and miss as far as consistency is concerned, but we are getting there.

How about math? At the very end of last year he was introduced to multiplying and dividing by two digits. For example 4,679 x 63. or 2,952/24. By the end of the year he will have worked with:
+variables,
+absolute value,
+exponents, fractions/decimals/percentages
+parameter,
+area,
+circumference.

Are you old enough to remember diagramming sentences? I don't remember doing that as a kid, but I am so glad this curriculum is still (or has gone back to) doing it. By the end of fourth grade Tony will be
@diagramming
*subjects,
*nouns,
*conjunctions,
*helping verbs,
*interjections,
*adverbs,
*adjectives.
@writing compound sentences,
@using one word as either a noun, an adjective and a verb.
@know possessive nouns,
@proper nouns,
@action verbs,
@state-of being verbs,
@compound subjects,
@understood subjects,
@predicates
@compound predicates
@four types of sentences,
@ prepositional phrases.
@have lessons in creative writing

All of this will be work, but the hardest for Tony will be to work consistently, conscientiously, and neatly.