I've written before, though not recently, about how Builder Boy learns best when he can physically move something related to the topic. I don't do this with every single subject, but when he gets stuck on something I find for him it's best if I pull away from the official curriculum for a little while and come up with something different and tangible. Builder Boy was getting frustrated with his telling time workbook, so we stopped started trying some other things. The first thing I had him do was to write the minutes on a paper circle. Then I gave him some of his PVP pipes to use as clock hands and I had him be the clock. He really liked that.
The next day we used two pieces of paper, one on top of the other. On the top piece I wrote the regular clock numbers and then cut between numbers to make tabs. Under each number Builder Boy wrote the minutes for each one. This way he could practice without being given the answer.
The next day I cut different colored construction paper circles into fractions that fit his clock from day one. I made half's, quarter's, and sixth's. On one side I wrote the fraction, on the other side I wrote how many minutes. He loves playing with fractions, so he played with these for quite a while, experimenting with what equaled what.
The next week I made construction paper circles for every number on the clock and had him jumping around the clock. We also practiced "top of the hour," "bottom of the hour," "quarter after," and "quarter 'til." He jumped clock wise 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes. We worked/played with the floor clock for a week. We also used larger pvc pipes to show fractions on the floor clock. Even Early Bird is joining in with the floor clock.
I think it's starting to sink in, though Builder Boy still thinks a "quarter of an hour" is 25 minutes when initially asked. But at 11:45 one day he did look at the clock and say "it's a quarter 'til lunchtime!" We'll practice a little bit more, and then try the workbook again.
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