Hey there... my two cents...

I teach at tertiary level, so not with kids... but I still get seemingly dumb questions... however, I always stress to my students that the only silly question is the one they don't ask, and they can ask me during or after the class...

But I do definately know the frustration of someone asking something you have already explained... so a strategy I use is to ask the class if someone else would care to explain this to the student who is still inclear.

The response tells me one of two things:whether the rest of the class has understood the concept/idea... or whether everyone is still as clear as mud and I need to try a different approach.

By giving the class the opportunity to "be the teacher" I am also allowing leadership skills and support of self-esteem to emerge, as well as encouraging co-construction of knowledge and peer-tutoring... co-construction and deconstruction of knowledge are skills we (the teaching team I work with)actively encourage in our students.

Well done on persevering, and congrats on the results! Such a good feeling to know that you have facilitated positive change in people's lives.