One year ago, when Fiona turned four, Sam and I decided to home-school her instead of sending her to pre-school．I have always felt that the 0-5 years are an irreplaceable dreamtime．As Fiona is an inventive, observant child, sensitive and funny and great company, it would be a tragedy to find school rubbing away her uniqueness and restricting the building of her personality．

I tried not to reproduce school at home．I never had the urge to get a chalk, or a blackboard．I didn’t go and search out a curriculum(课程表)．I felt that my children would learn best if I stayed accessible (易接近的)and stayed out of their way．

Every day we worked some, relaxed some, read some and played some, but Fiona did not seem particularly happy here．She lost her temper once in a while．

How strange it was that my child who was free from school didn’t want to be free at all．Her friends all went to pre-school．She felt left out of a major part of her friends’ shared lives and experiences．I thought she was not in school for very strong, clear reasons, one of which was that the quality of learning my child did at home would be good, even better than expected．

Well, here was a situation I hadn’t expected．When we first decided to do this, Sam and I agreed that we would reassess(再评价)the situation for each child as she turned seven．Meanwhile we would offer her non-school-based opportunities to give her plenty of time with other kids-ballet lessons and swimming classes．She seemed to be enjoying all．But at times she kept asking when she was going to school．Whenever she asked this question, we told her that there would be a family meeting about it when she turned seven．She nearly always responded, “That’s when I’m going to go, then．” A fair amount of her curiosity was about school and I was afraid she was dreaming of going to school before she turned seven．

Although the advantages of home-schooling, I think, far outweigh its disadvantages, it is important for me to respect my daughter’s feelings and allow her to direct her own education．If her curiosity leads her to school, isn’t that where she should go?

Next week I’ll drive Fiona to her school．I hope that Fiona will learn to read and discover something wonderful to pursue in the world that opens up for her．I hope she will find the school activities provide her with satisfactory kid-time．

1．The writer decided to home-school her daughter, Fiona, because she thought________．

A．children aged 0-5 were too young to go to pre-school

B．Fiona may not be accepted by schools for her bad temper

C．home-schooling was much better than school education

D．children at Fiona’s age were too young to have their characters formed by school

2．In home schooling her daughter the writer tried to_______．

A．make her home just like a school

B．teach with a pointer, a piece of chalk, and a blackboard

C．be there when her child wanted her but tried not to stand in her way

D．teach according to a curriculum, which was suitable for Fiona

3．What was the writer’s biggest problem in home schooling her daughter?

A．She couldn’t decide what to teach and how to teach her daughter

B．She was not sure whether her teaching was suitable for Fiona．

C．She could not make Fiona give up the thought of going to school．

D．She didn’t know how to control Fiona’s temper

4．We can learn from the text that_______．

A．Fiona always acted against her mother’s instructions

B．it was against Fiona’s wish that she was educated at home

C．home-schooling was popular some years ago

D．Fiona’s parents would ask her opinions about school education