Understanding time...

About a month ago I bought a clock. A real clock with hands. I did this because many kids in schools I find, can't read a traditional clock. Everything is so digital, that many kids don't seem to have a sense of time. It drives me nuts. Maybe I am now what is considered "old school," but I can't stand it when kids can't tell time! (And I don't mean little kids!)

So I bought a clock and gave Evan a little lesson. It's been at least a month now, and I am amazed at what he knows. He knows when we leave for the bus, what time breakfast, lunch and dinner are. He can tell how many hours it is 'til bed, until he gets up, until a friend comes over. OH, this has made my life so much easier. He doesn't even ask. He just tells me...Three more hours, two more hours...he gets it!

At 6 pm he starts saying, "Oh no..." as bedtime looms. At 7 am he says that there are 12 more hours until he goes to bed. Learning to tell time has changed everything! I love it. We've not yet got the minutes mastered, but the clock is now labeled and we're learning to count by 5's. He gets when it's a little before the hour, after the hour, almost 'thirty, etc. He certainly gets how many MORE hours there are until anything that is important to him. He is ON the clock.

Along with this new understand has come the concept years. He's got the 12 months down and now understands that when this month is over, since it's the last month of the year, the year is over too, and then begins a new year. I think I was this age when I had this 'ahh - ha' moment too. At school they write the date on their paper everyday. I explained that tomorrow will be 12-31-09, and then next day, it will be 1 - 1- 10. (And Aliyah's birthday.) And he added, "And after tomorrow, it's never going to be 2009 ever again." Exactly. I love it when things just click and you can just see the wheels turning.