Home schooling in the USA / Домашнее обучение в США

Many people think education occurs mainly within the classroom. They regard the school building as a bastion of knowledge

However, stepping aside the traditional education, the home schooler has the most extensive facility imaginable for learning — the community where they live. Home schoolers can consider their cities and towns "classrooms without walls" that offer a boundless curriculum with unlimited opportunities for unique, and often hands-on, experiences for students. As a home schooler, with a little preparation, every day can be a "field trip". Let’s take a trip to the gas station as an example. What can you learn at a gas station?

A one-click Internet search for "First Gas Stations" reveals a wealth of information. The second step is to teach children how to ask good questions and how to demonstrate enough interest to deserve the answers. Help children think through all the things they are curious. You may even want to write their questions down. It’s a good idea to call ahead and make an appointment with the owner or manager at a convenient time when they are free to answer your children questions. This is a good training in manners.

Learning at the everyday places you go, allows children to develop a real understanding of the world around them. Why just read about things in a book when you can experience them first hand? Experiential learning is the most interesting and most fun. It provides memories the children will treasure when they are grown.

Словарь

a board member of the Indiana Foundation for Home Schooling

to occur — происходить, иметь место

a boundless curriculum — безграничная (свободная) программа обучения

hands-on — на практике, практически

a field trip — учебная экскурсия

a wealth of information — изобилие информации

at a convenient time — в удобное время

to experience smth first hand — испытать что-то на практике; испытать что-то на себе; знать по собственному опыту

to treasure memories — бережно хранить воспоминания

Holidays in Great Britain / Праздники в Великобритании

British people like any other nation like holidays. It is a time to rest and spend with relatives and friend. One of the most popular holidays in Britain is St. Valentine’s Day. Every February 14th, boys and girls, husbands and wives, friends and even colleagues tell each other about their love and thank each other for the support and understanding. People send Valentine cards. They are not signed, instead people write "Your Valentine". The first Valentine of all was a Christian bishop. Before his death he sent a note of friendship to his jailer’s blind daughter.

Most people in England like Pancake Race on Shrove Tuesday. At home families have pancakes for dinner. At school teachers and children have pancakes for school dinner. Everyone knows that pancakes are tasty, but not everyone knows that in England on Shrove Thursday, people race with them, fight for them. At Westminster School, in London, there is a pancake fight. The school cook tosses a pancake high into the air. The boys (one from each class) fight for the pancake. The boy who has the biggest piece is the winner.

Mothering Day is another old holiday in Britain. In the middle of March young people present their mothers with small gifts, flowers and a special kind of cake. This kind of cake was especially popular in the Middle Ages, but it is also possible to buy them today. Mothering Sunday is not the same as Mother’s Day, which is an American holiday and is celebrated in May.

But the most famous holidays in Britain are Easter and Christmas. Easter is the time to present spring flowers and presents in the form of eggs. Christmas presents can be found under the Christmas tree. Most big offices, schools, colleges and universities have a dance or a party at Christmas. Christmas is an exciting time, but it can also be a very expensive time. You need money to buy Christmas presents for your family and friends, you need money to buy clothes for Christmas parties and so on. But British people like holidays and celebrate them with pleasure.

Словарь

a jailer — тюремщик

Shrove Tuesday — вторник на Масляной неделе

the Middle Ages — Средние века

Easter — Пасха