8 yo not learning like she used to

[Scottishmaw]

Hi, my 8 year old daughter is in primary four and up until this year we've always been really happy with her learning ability. She loves school and is quite good at doing homework.

The problem is that she doesn't seem to be retaining information this last year. We've spent months teaching her to tell the time and she initially understands, then a week or so later it's all forgotten. I'm getting frustrated that she still doesn't use capital letters at the start of a sentence, although her reading ability is quite good and we've worked with her to help.

I'm starting to find myself getting irritated that a smart girl can't grasp basics, like being able able to recognise when a clock says half past. I'm not sure if theres a memory problem, or if she's not trying hard enough, or if I'm not doing the right things to help. She's a happy and well adjusted child.

Any advice or experience would be much appreciated :)

[spaghettipeppers]

First things first, get her eyes checked- can she see the clock?

Telling the time is very difficult.

Does she generally have difficulties organising herself? Can she remember all of her belongings etc? What about tying shoelaces or riding a book?

[Helix1244]

Half past should be easy enough as it is half (like a cake /pizza etc) quarter past is quarter etc.
I can see how they struggle with the 5min intervals though.
Maybe constant reinteration for a week or two. So
How many min in an hour
Hours in a day
Days in a week
Mins in half past
Quarter past/to etc


It may just be taking a while to get into long term memory.
Same with cm in m
And g in a kg etc

[bodiddly]

Little and often is the key with telling the time etc. I found a great app game worked brilliantly for teaching the time and times tables etc - children aren't consciously working so love spending time playing.

[BringOnTheScience]

Every primary teacher will agree that time is one of the very hardest things to learn and to teach!
Time involves Base 12 and Base 60, yet on the same scale. Number bonds to 60 and 30, while counting up and down in 5s, and chuck in some fractions.

Time is Hard!

[wasgoingmadinthecountry]

My daughter has a friend who's a doctor (as in medical) with lots of other PG qualifications. He can't tell the time.

Obviously this is not to tell you to give up on it!

[Bitlost]

My very bright DD found it very hard to learn to tell the time. I think school started them too early on it (year 1) and she developed a block and utter confusion. I wouldn’t worry. Give it a break. (I remember my childminder buying me a watch for my 10th birthday to encourage me to tell the time....)

[Helix1244]

Yes it does make you wonder why we dont just say x past. So 35past 55 past etc. It's not like we say at 11pm on tues oh 'hour to Wednesday!'