A home school is a school in which parents educate their children at home instead of sending them out to a public or private school. Home schooling is legal throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Hong Kong, and South Africa. Home schooling is most popular in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Home schooling is legally accepted in all 50 states of the U.S., but each state has its own laws that a family must adhere to. Currently, it is estimated that over one million families school their children at home. Most of these families include a breadwinner and a stay-at-home parent who does most of the teaching, although there are single parent families and double career families.

Home schooling education models range from unschooling to traditional classroom schooling. Unschooling is based on interest-based learning in which the child expresses interest in a particular subject, and the parents take steps to provide the materials for that subject.

    In some places, the home school group shares in hiring a professional teacher to teach a particular subject. The group may also arrange field trips and sports activates with local private schools. These activities are intended to provide social skills for the students.

Home school families take advantage of technology and the Internet to supplement （补充） traditional teaching. Some home school families enroll （注册） their children in an online school or course as a supplement to their own teaching.

Some home school families teach their children through high school graduation. Others teach their children until they feel they are mature（成熟）enough to live independently.

20090406

    In America colleges do recognize a home school diploma （文凭）, but most are more interested in high school transcripts （成绩报告单） and SAT and ACT scores. There are currently over 800 colleges that accept home – schooled graduates including Harvard. Yale, and Stanford.

1．A home school is school where          .

       A．parents provide social skills for their children

       B．children needn’t take any tests

       C．parents teach their children at home

       D．children can go home every day

2．In most of the home school families,          .

       A．one parent goes to work and the other stays at home

       B．one parent is a worker and the other is a teacher

       C．both of the parents stay at home

       D．both of the parents go to work

3．In the education model of unschooling,           .

      A．children are taught in traditional ways

       B．children don’t need any textbooks

       C．special attention is paid to children’s interest

       D．everything is decided by children’s parents

4．We can know from the passage that         .

       A．home schooling is only popular in developed countries

       B．children in a home school have no contacts with other students

       C．a home school diploma is not accepted by colleges in America

       D．some children in a home school also take courses online

5．Famous universities like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford          .

       A．are only interested in accepting public school graduates

       B．also take in students with a home school diploma

       C．never enroll home – schooled graduates

D．also provide home school education

Family activities     School’s out and it’s time to get the family active.

Diving This is a great way to make swimming even more fun. Highboard diving needs muscle control. Lessons begin at the poolside, where you will learn some basic skills before moving on to the boards . Try a saltwater pool, on warmer days, and enjoy the fresh air, high boards and water games. Suitable for: 13+ Cost: The first lesson, which lasts one hour, is usually free if you decide to carry on. £10/£20 an hour. Contact: Find your local swimming pool at www. britishswimming.org; 015 096 18700

Sailing Sailing is great for building confidence and provides a mental and physical challenge from the beginning. It can be done alone, and picking up the basics is easy. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: Free Contact: Royal Yachting Association; 084 534 50400; www.rya.org.uk

Surfing Balance, coordination (协调) and patience are required to learn the art of surfing, but the excitement of jumping to your feet on the board for the first time and riding a wave into the shore is an excellent experience. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: £30 an hour Contact: www.nationalsurfingcentre.com, 016 378 50737

Gymnastics Gymnastics improves flexibility(灵活性), strength, and teaches self-discipline. Although Olympic-level gymnastics take years of practice to master (掌握), more simple moves are easy to learn in a day and can be practiced at home. Suitable for: 4+ Cost: £6 an hour Contact: British Gymnastics; 084 512 97129; www.british-gymnastics.org

56. If you are a child of seven, you should choose        .

A. Diving         B. Sailing         C. Surfing        D. Gymnastics

57. If you have a 10-hour course in diving, you should pay at least       .

A. £100          B. £200         C. £90         D. £30

58. If you want to increase your confidence, you can call        .

A. 084 512 97129       B. 015 096 18700

C. 016 378 50737       D. 084 534 50400

59. According to the passage, we know that       .

A. it is very difficult to learn sailing

B. it is impossible to practice gymnastics at home

C. strength is needed to do highboard diving

D. surfing offers you the excitement of riding a wave

 

Family activities     School’s out and it’s time to get the family active.

Diving This is a great way to make swimming even more fun. Highboard diving needs muscle control. Lessons begin at the poolside, where you will learn some basic skills before moving on to the boards . Try a saltwater pool, on warmer days, and enjoy the fresh air, high boards and water games. Suitable for: 13+ Cost: The first lesson, which lasts one hour, is usually free if you decide to carry on. £10/£20 an hour. Contact: Find your local swimming pool at www. britishswimming.org; 015 096 18700

Sailing Sailing is great for building confidence and provides a mental and physical challenge from the beginning. It can be done alone, and picking up the basics is easy. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: Free Contact: Royal Yachting Association; 084 534 50400; www.rya.org.uk

Surfing Balance, coordination (协调) and patience are required to learn the art of surfing, but the excitement of jumping to your feet on the board for the first time and riding a wave into the shore is an excellent experience. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: £30 an hour Contact: www.nationalsurfingcentre.com, 016 378 50737

Gymnastics Gymnastics improves flexibility(灵活性), strength, and teaches self-discipline. Although Olympic-level gymnastics take years of practice to master (掌握), more simple moves are easy to learn in a day and can be practiced at home. Suitable for: 4+ Cost: £6 an hour Contact: British Gymnastics; 084 512 97129; www.british-gymnastics.org

56. If you are a child of seven, you should choose        .

A. Diving         B. Sailing         C. Surfing        D. Gymnastics

57. If you have a 10-hour course in diving, you should pay at least       .

A. £100          B. £200         C. £90         D. £30

58. If you want to increase your confidence, you can call        .

A. 084 512 97129       B. 015 096 18700

C. 016 378 50737       D. 084 534 50400

59. According to the passage, we know that       .

A. it is very difficult to learn sailing

B. it is impossible to practice gymnastics at home

C. strength is needed to do highboard diving

D. surfing offers you the excitement of riding a wave

Julie Zingeser texts at home，at school，in the car while her mother is driving．She texts during homework, after pompon（舞绣球）practice and as she walks the family dog．She takes her cellphone with her to bed．Every so often，the hum（嗡嗡声）of a new message wakes the Rockville teen from sleep．“I would die without it，”Julie，15，says of her text life．

This does not surprise her mother, Pam, who on one recent afternoon scanned the phone bill and found her youngest daughter, in one busy month，had sent and received 6,473 text messages．For Pam Zingeser, the key problem is not cost—it's$30 a month for the family’s unlimited texting plan—but the effects of so much messaging．Pam wonders：What will this generation learn and what will they lose in the endless stream of sentence fragments（碎片），abbreviations and emoticons?

     Parents, educators, and researchers are sharing similar concerns as text messaging has exploded across the formative years of the nation's youngest generation. Teens now do more texting on their cellphones than calling. Nationally, more than 75 billion text messages are sent a month, and the craziest texters are 13 to 17. Teens with cellphones average 2,272 text messages a month, compared with 203 calls, according to the Nielsen Co.

    The tap，tap，tap of connectivity can benefit teenagers at a time in life when they cannot always get together in art unscheduled way．Texters are “sharing a sense of  （69题）  ，”said Mimi Ito of the University of California at Irvine．For families, the text world call bring convenience as never before in arranging tides，doing errands（差事），letting parents know of changing plans．

    But some experts say there are downsides，starting with declines in spelling，word choice and writing complexity．Some suggest too much texting is related to an inability to focus．

1．The first paragraph mainly tells us that Julie Zingeser __________

    A．joins in all kinds of activities

    B．sends and receives texts all the time

C．does nothing besides texting

D．does everything by texting

2．Pare disapproves of her daughter's texting because she worries that it may be ________

    A．a waste of money

    B．a waste of time

    C．harmful in every way

D．bad for language learning

3．The underlined phrase "the formative years" in the 3rd paragraph refers to the period when ________

A．someone's character develops

B．someone experiments with new things

C．someone learns to speak

D．someone grows from baby into adult

4．The word missing in the blank in the 4th paragraph must be _______

A．independence                            B．overexcitement

C．co-presence                             D．non-attendance

5．The original title of the article should be: “6,473 Texts a Month, But _______”.

A．at What Cost?                             B．What for?

C．Who Cares?                                D．How Could lt Be?

Many schools have established successful home visit programs. Home visits by teachers let parents and children know how much teachers care. Also, it is a way for teachers to learn more about their students , get the parents to pay more attention to their children’s education and bridge cultural gaps that might exist between students and teachers. Most teachers report that their home visits have a lasting effect on the child, the parents and on parent—teacher communication.
The Head Start program has used home visits for many years. Head Start teachers are required to make at least two home visits for each student, regardless of their ability, during each school year in addition to regular parent-teacher conferences at school. Many U.S. kindergartens also require home visits by teachers before school starts.
The visit approach varies from school to school and usually depends on the funding the source. In some schools, teachers prefer to visit in pairs. They feel more comfortable that way and sometimes need a translator in order to communicate with a child’s parents. Other teachers visit one-on-one with parents. Some interact with both the child and the parent. Many teachers may bring along learning activities for the child that also involve the parents participation. Normally, visits can last from 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the teacher and the activities.
When teachers get to know their students and their students’ families, the parents become more active in their children’s education. Home visits, not unnecessary as some people think, can give teachers the ideas they need to help all students succeed.
【小题1】 Home visits by teachers can         

A．bridge cultural gaps existing between parents and teachers.

B．get students know that their teachers care about their parents.

C．get parents involved in their children’s education.

D．help establish good relationships between parents and children.

【小题2】From the second paragraph we know that home visits       

A．are not a new idea

B．are traditionally done by teachers before school starts

C．are meant for students with low marks

D．have replaced parent-teacher meeting

【小题3】What is the third paragraph about?

A．Reasons for home visists

B．Forms of home visits

C．Advantages of home visits

D．Tips for home visits

【小题4】 What is the effect of home visits?

A．Parents have more opportunities to play with children

B．Students can succeed more easily through their own efforts.

C．Parents play a decisive role in children’s education.

D．Teachers can learn more about how to help students.