shernandez Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Someone please have a great resource for telling time/clocks! We literally do clocks every single day, and have done so for well over a year now. DD cannot seem to grasp telling time. Multiplication...no problem. Adding/subtracting numbers in the thousands...easy peasy. Telling time/working with clocks...melt down...every.single.day. Last week, we took a break from our normal math to break out the old Judy clock and Math Mammoth time worksheets, which went fine. Back to normal school this week, and she is having issues all over again. I get her having issues with time lapse problems, because that is very new, but she can't even properly tell time. If I sit and walk her through the steps, she can sometimes do it, but I only have so much patience for something that I literally teach her every day. And she hates math to begin with because she has to actually think, so that doesn't help any:( She is a great kid! But this is driving me crazy. Advice, encouragement, etc. much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 What helped my kids the most was hanging an analog clock in the room they were in most often (living room/school room) and putting a digital clock right next to it or putting the minutes 5/10/15/20/etc. with paper around the outside of the analog clock. Being able to see both in "real time" helped a ton. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Time is a weird topic that trips some kids up. My DS9 could not tell time until he is almost nine but had no problem with AoPS prealgebra before he could tell time. It just click when he was ready for it. Wearing an analog watch helped. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 If she's 7, and you've worked on it every day, I suggest dropping it for now. Really. My DDs were the same way and we pushed and pushed and all it did was make everyone miserable. I got workbooks that had them practicing clocks every day. When they closed the books? Everything they "learned" was gone. I was ready to jump off a cliff. At 11, they can do clocks with minimal effort and we haven't even touched it since I gave up when they were about 9. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shernandez Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 She is 7. I am very type-A, so skipping something KILLS me, but I have been working really, really hard this year to let things go! I think I will take a black marker and cross out every clock in her books so I'm not tempted to force her to do them for awhile. I guess I feel like I'm doing her an injustice, but I truly know I'm not. Gah. Sometimes homeschooling can be so hard on us parents ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Put it away. Bring it back out in a few months. Don't stress. She'll get it when she's ready. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Some people are just never great at reading analog clocks, and they go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives. My 15-yr-old is fairly terrible at it, and I'm no great shakes myself - I can do it, but it often takes me a few seconds. It's not worth all that time and frustration. Cover it briefly every year, put an analog and digital clock in her room, and move on. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Another vote to drop it and come back. You've clearly taught it she clearly hasn't gotten it. I think that means she's just not ready. Pull it out again when she's 8 and I'll bet it will take two days to teach everything. It's just one of those weird topics that takes some kids a little longer. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Is she left-handed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Clock-reading, like shoe-tying, is something I only learned when I was in my double digits. I'm still hugely proud when I can read a clock! But nowadays, when does it come up? When she's old enough to go out and about, she'll either have a watch or, more likely, her phone, and both of those can be digital. I wouldn't stress too much over it. It's a useful little skill, but, like reading roman numerals (something we spent months on as a child, and which neither of my kiddos seem to have learned in school) it's hardly essential anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Is she left-handed? is there a proven correlation? (just because I am curious) The left handed people in my extended family all could tell time early and had no problem with analog watches in preK. Knowing the 5 times table by heart early did help. My boy who had the hardest time is a right hander who could be ambidextrous but strongly favors the right hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 is there a proven correlation? (just because I am curious) I'm wondering that as well. I have a nagging idea that I was told there was as a child, but honestly, "It's because you're left-handed" was my parents' official answer to a lot of things which, in retrospect, could probably be more accurately placed at the feet of the autism. Which they KNEW about, but didn't want to inform me of, hence: Oh, left-handedness! (There may be a slight correlation between autism and left-handedness, but that's beside the point.) Soooo... my gut feeling is probably not. Actually, I'd be surprised to find that anybody has ever formally tested this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I fought this battle with my youngest son. I deeply regret all the time we spent trying to learn clocks. I really wish I hadn't made him cry so much. :( If I were you, I wouldn't wait 6 months. I'd wait 12-24 months. Honestly. It's not a big deal. It's just not. I didn't feel comfortable with analog clocks until I was in my 20's. Other than misreading my analog watch and getting my friend a parking ticket, it didn't affect my life. :) I am not an unschooler and I also have a type-A personality and it drives me nuts to have to pull back and wait for the child to be ready to learn, but in this instance, I would strongly advise letting it go for a very long time. You could wait until she's 11 or 12 even and no one would even notice. And by then, she'll get it in a snap. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 My dd always had a hard time reading an analog clock. This year at age 9 it finally clicked for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 is there a proven correlation? (just because I am curious) The left handed people in my extended family all could tell time early and had no problem with analog watches in preK. Knowing the 5 times table by heart early did help. My boy who had the hardest time is a right hander who could be ambidextrous but strongly favors the right hand. I don't know, I haven't checked. I'm going on the rhetoric from "left-handed" stores, which sometimes sell watches that run counterclockwise because, they say, lefthanders cope better with that direction. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 You know, she'll learn to tell time eventually. Give her an analog watch for Christmas, something with a cute character on it, and ask her what time it is, or if it's time to go yet, or if it's time for her favorite TV show. Let the drilling and all the working and everything go. Just let it go. People have been learning to tell time for hundreds of years; she'll learn, too. :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Lol! I could have written your post re: my oldest two girls. Guess when they learned to read an analog clock? When they NEEDED to. Both are competitive swimmers. The pool where they trained starting when they were 11 & 9 had only an analog clock and an analog pace clock. All of a sudden it was 'need-to-know information', so it finally clicked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 :grouphug: I'm right there with you! We've tried learning telling time in MUS, MM, and now RS... I have to say this last time in RS B went the smoothest....maybe that was just her being a little older. She still doesn't totally 'get it' though. She's also 7 in 2nd grade. I'm pretty sure it comes up again in RS C, so we'll just wait and go over it again when that time comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 What helped my kids the most was hanging an analog clock in the room they were in most often (living room/school room) and putting a digital clock right next to it or putting the minutes 5/10/15/20/etc. with paper around the outside of the analog clock. Being able to see both in "real time" helped a ton. Great idea! I'm going to try this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 It sounds like the best advice here is to wait. However... One of my daughters had a hard time telling time. She could do the workbook clocks, but she couldn't tell time on a real clock. I could not figure out what the dis-connect was. Until I found out she needed glasses. :svengo: Just throwing that out there in case it helps someone else. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shernandez Posted November 14, 2015 Author Share Posted November 14, 2015 She's not ready. Drop it for now. When it's time to return to it, I would try Montessori 3 part cards. These set her up to not fail and take you out of it. They also turn it into a game. I made some of my own that look like this. http://montessori123.com/collections/history/products/telling-time-card-set-complete-clock-set-three-part-cards Time, calendar and money are all things that I believe can be picked up really quickly when they are ready. Or you can continue to bang your head into a wall until then. I found these for much cheaper! I don't know why I didn't think of Montessori cards...we use them in science all the time. Thank you for mentioning them. I think I will buy the ones I linked to and just set them up for her to use whenever she feels like it. I refuse to bang my head against the wall anymore ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 I would put it aside. Or just teach telling the hours and review that occasionally. After that introduce telling time very, very slowly. 1. Telling the hours. As in. The short hand is almost pointing at 5. It is almost 5 o'clock. The short hand is half was between the 5 and 6. I can say, "It's half past 5. Or half way to 6.".... 2. Knowing an hour has 60 minutes 3. Knowing the long hand tells minutes. 4. Learning to just guess what the minutes are. Start with it always on the 30 minute mark and the 00 minute mark 5. Review Fractions for 1/2 and 1/4. Start guessing the time with it always at 15, 30, 15 minutes. 6. Master the five times tables. 7. You spend a lot of time saying: "Wow it is 12:30, and the minute hand points to the 6. 6 times 5 is thirty. That is neat. ... It now says 1:45. The minute hand points to 9. 9 times 5 is 45. ... It now says 2:15. The minute hand points to 3. 3 times 5 is 15.... 8. Learn how to tell when the clock is at 5 minute marks. That is the pattern my kids did. Except for the reviewing fractions, and mastering the 5 times table - I just did the rest throughout the day when I happened to see an analog clock and the minute hand was in a good place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 I would put it aside. Or just teach telling the hours and review that occasionally. After that introduce telling time very, very slowly. 1. Telling the hours. As in. The short hand is almost pointing at 5. It is almost 5 o'clock. The short hand is half was between the 5 and 6. I can say, "It's half past 5. Or half way to 6.".... 2. Knowing an hour has 60 minutes 3. Knowing the long hand tells minutes. 4. Learning to just guess what the minutes are. Start with it always on the 30 minute mark and the 00 minute mark 5. Review Fractions for 1/2 and 1/4. Start guessing the time with it always at 15, 30, 15 minutes. 6. Master the five times tables. 7. You spend a lot of time saying: "Wow it is 12:30, and the minute hand points to the 6. 6 times 5 is thirty. That is neat. ... It now says 1:45. The minute hand points to 9. 9 times 5 is 45. ... It now says 2:15. The minute hand points to 3. 3 times 5 is 15.... 8. Learn how to tell when the clock is at 5 minute marks. That is the pattern my kids did. Except for the reviewing fractions, and mastering the 5 times table - I just did the rest throughout the day when I happened to see an analog clock and the minute hand was in a good place. The above are good suggestions. I agree with the others, just walk away for at least 6 months, or even longer. Give her brain time to mature and for you both to reset. Stress over continued lack of retention can make it worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shernandez Posted November 14, 2015 Author Share Posted November 14, 2015 Can I make a confession? I really couldn't tell time when I graduated from high school! We moved a bunch, and I missed the teaching. Margaret, me too!!! I was moved around every single year until I hit 7th grade, so I missed the teaching in school. I think that is why I'm so worried about NOT teaching her time. Because I missed out, I don't want her to. But, I agree that it doesn't mean she has to learn it now. I didn't learn until high school, and I'm just fine. I did break out my black marker and calmly marked clocks out of her Light Unit ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Just agreeing with everyone else. I taught second for years; the kids who did not get it in the fall usually got the concept in the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Another vote for just waiting. We have big Judy clocks, small clocks with movable hands, cards, Math Mammoth time workbook, kids stories with time, analog wall clocks. Basically everything. Dd got very good at the workbooks, but real life was still tricky. Honestly, the best thing was waiting and getting dd her own analog watch. The eureka moment came when she learned to use a key by holding her wristwatch by the keyhole. ('Turn the key to 3....') She was so proud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Oh, I remember doing this and trying everything. It was soon frustrating! I finally decided to skip it, and when Singapore came back to the topic the following year at an even higher level, DS just breezed through it like it was nothing. It was truly my first experience with trying to teach something my child was not developmentally ready for. I really wish I had stopped sooner and just waited, but I was new to this and didn't realize. Lesson learned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Dd20 has a hard time reading clocks. She is bright, left-handed, and has some visual processing differences. To read a clock, she looks at it and then has to close her eyes to be able to tell the time. I wouldn't worry about this, and definitely not at 7. My dd's difficulty with it never caused a problem in real life. She's in college and clock-reading is not tied to her scholarship. I'm also the type that has difficulty skipping things, but I think flexibility in hsing is a helpful skill to develop. My rigidity has caused more stress than was necessary over the years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 We have a sort of "learn to tell the time" clock which shows fractions, past/to, minutes in multiples of 5s (both to 60 and counting up to and down from 30). Something like this: http://www.zazzle.com.au/early_learning_learn_to_tell_time_wall_clock-256948383611201921 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I agree with waiting and trying again later. I had one child who really struggled with it, too. I remember being the same at age 8, and my parents had my brother teach me. Something he did just made it click for me. And be glad we don't tell time like they do in Norway. Very complicated! http://norsk.rkevin.com/learn-how-to-tell-the-time-in-norwegian/ In addition to quarter and half hours, they say 5 or 10 to the half hour and 5 or 10 past the half hour - while looking at the 24 hour analogue! (e.g., 16:35 is 5 past half five) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Give it time, take a break, everything others have said. Don't make yourself or her crazy with it. It's not worth it and it very likely will eventually click. 6yo here has been slowly but surely getting it, but it's far from a perfect understanding. They'll see "clock-work" ;) again and it will click even more the next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcitedMama Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Check out the Kumon telling time books. The first one is is just the hours and half past. Most of the book is analog with digital at the end. It's very monotonous but offers lots of practice in a gentle manner. The second one is more focused on minutes. And use it with the practice clock so she can see it in action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Good luck!! One of my dds took forever understanding this and it was such a painful journey! Many tears and meltdowns. She went to PS for a couple years, and many math concepts were just going well over her head, she had so many gaps when we started homeschooling. My best advice (easier said than done), don't sweat it and don't engage. Keep bringing it up, doing problems about it etc. Sometimes the dollar store or target has dry erase time books, we did it many times. It eventually clicked in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 is there a proven correlation? (just because I am curious) The left handed people in my extended family all could tell time early and had no problem with analog watches in preK. Knowing the 5 times table by heart early did help. My boy who had the hardest time is a right hander who could be ambidextrous but strongly favors the right hand. I'm left handed and have no issues with clocks or trying shows. However, you should have it on your radar that both are warning signs for dyslexia. Both are directional which is why dyslexic kiddos struggle with them, especially when tired. ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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