My girls are a fair way above their classmates when it comes to numeracy. This week the teacher has been doing lessons on "the clock" --> she has revised o'clock, gone through half past and started on quarter past. Meanwhile my girls can read the clock to the nearest minute and do basic clock problems (ie if it is 8.45 how many minutes til 9 o'clock). In class though, when they are discussing simple basics like quarter past my girls get confused (they over think the teachers question because they know so much more about the clock than the lesson she is conducting) they wonder does she mean 8.15, or the hand isn't exactly on the 3 (it's a toy learning clock)does she what an answer of 8:14 or does she want it in words of 15 minutes past 8. Then they overthink it so much they think they must have the hands back to front and start thinking she must want 42minutes past 3 and I'm sure you get the picture. But the problem is the teacher doesn't see it that way, she just thinks they can't tell the time and thats that. How do I explain to her that they are just overthinking something they knew 2 years ago.

When mine did that (attempting to be far more exact than the measuring tool provided for), I attempted to teach DD the useful life skill of figuring out what it's most likely the other person is asking about.

I will say that I had limited success, but since there were no negative consequences to the teacher underestimating her ability (like being put into a different group, or being held back), I tried not to care so much what the teacher might have thought.

--->I attempted to teach DD the useful life skill of figuring out what it's most likely the other person is asking about.<---

Would you please teach *me* this skill? I've been plagued with the over-thinking problem my entire life.