Peter: So thinking about your future, would you have your kids home-schooled, would you home-school themselves or do you think that it's better for them to go to a normal school, what would you do?

彼得：想象一下未来，你会让你的孩子在家上学吗?你是会让他们在家上学，还是你认为让孩子去学校接受教育更好?你会怎样做?

Sarah: I used to say that I didn't know. But then I got my undergrad degree and elementary education and I had a chance to teach in public school. And that's when I decided, yes, absolutely, I would home-school my own children.

萨拉：我以前会回答你我不知道。不过现在我拿到了本科学位和初等教育证书，我有机会在公共学校教书。当时我就决定，我一定要让我的孩子在家上学。

Peter: What was the main reason coming to that decision?

彼得：你做出这一决定的主要理由是什么?

Sarah: The main reason was the wasted time that I saw. And also there were so many children in one classroom. It was really hard to get them all to focus and pay attention at the same time, it's nearly impossible. So if I could provide my child with one-on-one attention, I feel like they would learn more, there'd be less wasted time.

萨拉：主要原因是我看到了人们所浪费的时间。一个班级里通常有很多学生。很难让所有人同时集中注意力，这几乎是不可能做到的事。如果我让我的孩子进行一对一教育，我认为他们会学到更多知识，这样就可以少浪费时间。

Peter: Right. So home-schooling helps with using time productively I guess?

彼得：对。在家上学可以有效利用时间，对吧?

Sarah: I would say so, yes.

萨拉：没错，我认为是这样的。

Peter: Right.

彼得：好。

Sarah: And now that I have the degree as well and elementary education I feel like I'm equipped to be able to do it if I needed to.

萨拉：现在我有本科学位，还有初等教育证书，我认为在需要的时候我能做到在家教孩子。

Peter: Right. Do you think there are any disadvantages to home-schooling?

彼得：对。你认为在家上学有什么不足之处吗?

Sarah: Probably the number one disadvantage that most people see with home-schooling is the social aspect. And this can be a big deal. It can be very hard, especially with sports, if your child wants to play on a sports team often it's hard to get them in on a team at a regular school. Sometimes there's community groups, but definitely the social aspect is the hardest need to meet with home-schooling

萨拉：可能大部分人认为在家上学最大的缺点是缺乏社交。这可能会成为大问题。尤其是运动方面会遇到难题，如果你的孩子想参加运动队，通常很难让他们加入普通学校的运动队中。有时可以加入社区组织，但是的确社交需求是在家上学最难满足的。

Peter: For home-schooling, what kind of exams or tests are there to make sure that children pass the grade that they're in?

彼得：就在家教育来说，有什么考试或测验能确保孩子达到他们应读年级的水平?

Sarah: I'm not sure what it's like in all countries, but I know in the US there's ... you take the end-of-year state testing that everyone does, so it's mailed to your house and your parents give you the test and the results are sent back to you.萨拉：我不知道其他国家是怎样做的，不过在美国，要参加年末进行的状态测试，试卷会寄到家里，由父母监督孩子完成测试，结果也会以邮寄的方式寄到家里。

Peter: Okay. So it's all standardized and everybody goes through the same test?

彼得：好。这是标准化测试吗，所有人都参加同样的测试?

Sarah: Yes.

萨拉：对。

Peter: Right.

彼得：好。

Sarah: And then when it comes time to take the SAT or the end of high school test then you can actually go and take them at a public school with everyone else, they'll allow you to do that.

萨拉：在到了该参加学业能力倾向测验或高中考试的时候，你可以和其他学生一起在公立学校参加考试，他们批准你可以参加。

Peter: Okay. When you arrived in college did you notice any differences between the education you had and like the education other kids had not having gone through home-schooling?

彼得：好。你上大学以后，你有注意到你接受的教育和其他不是在家上学的孩子有什么不同吗?

Sarah: The main difference I saw was the social aspect. There are many things sort of culturally almost that I didn't know, that I was sheltered from, just things and sayings and popular things that happen in school that I had no clue about. It's almost a completely different culture than what I was raised in. So that was very different. And also I saw a difference then, it was really hard for me to learn with someone lecturing because I was so used to learning everything out of a book, reading it for myself, and so I'd have to listen and take notes, was a big struggle for me.

萨拉：我认为最大的不同在于社交方面。很多与文化有关的事情我都不知道，学校里发生的事情、流行的事物我都不了解。那和我成长的环境是完全不同的。非常不同。另外，我很难和其他人一起学习，因为我已经习惯通过书本自学了，习惯自己看书学习，所以听课和记笔记对我来说非常难。

Peter: Really?

彼得：真的吗?

Sarah: Yes.

萨拉：对。

Peter: But it sounds like you ended up being quite a self-driven and self-disciplined learner, if you'd gone through the textbooks yourself.

彼得：看起来如果通过书本自学，你会成为自主自律的学习者。

Sarah: Yes; I think you really can't help but be if you are home-schooled, so yeah.

萨拉：对，这的确是在家上学所带来的。

Peter: Right. Thank you very much, it was really interesting.

彼得：好。非常谢谢你，这很有趣。

Sarah: Absolutely.

萨拉：当然了。