On Mondays, two of my children get ready for school in an unusual way. Each packs plenty of food and water, a pair of rubber boots and sometimes a cup of hot chocolate. Then, I drop them off at a nearby park where they spend the entire day outside at a certified forest school.

When I first signed them up for forest school program, I loved the idea, but as a mum, I was concerned about a few things: Would they be comfortable outside for that long? Would they stay engaged for that many hours? Then I asked them if time ever seemed to move slowly, they stared at me in confusion. They didn’t understand my question, which fittingly removed it.

In this program, kids direct their own play, climbing tall trees or testing ice on the frozen lake. They are never told their play is too high or too sharp, but are rather trusted to self- adjust. Something else my sons appreciate about forest school is not being told to move on to the next activity, but being left to stay in a particular spot for as long as their curiosity allows. :

“What about all the things they’re missing in real school?” concerned parents have asked me. Neither of their classroom teachers thinks it’s a problem, but most significantly, my kids are learning new and different skills that a classroom cannot teach. They are learning to sit silently and observe nature up close-a skill that’s virtually impossible to develop in a noisy and overcrowded classroom setting. They are making social connections across a broader range of age groups. They cooperate together, using their different sizes and strengths to fulfill various roles within their games.

I appreciate it that forest school is shaping my boys’ relationship with the outdoors. They’re learning how to spend extended periods of time in nature, what to do to pass the time, and developing knowledge that will get them much closer to nature in the coming decades.

【小题1】You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here’s how:

Plan your time carefully. When planning your work, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making this list you should make a schedule of your time. First your time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc... Then decide a good, regular time for studying.【小题2】A weekly schedule(安排) may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.

Make good use of your time in class. 【小题3】Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

Study regularly. When you get home from school, go over your notes, preview the important points that your teacher is going to discuss the next day, and read that material. 【小题4】If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you'll remember it longer.

Develop a good attitude towards tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you remember your new knowledge. The world won't end if you don’t pass a test, so don’t be over worried.

【小题5】You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.

Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources.

Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.

Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B⁺, compared to a B⁻ for those who did not.

“What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who'd done our writing intervention (干预), all of a sudden there was no relationship between test fear and performance. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don't normally get nervous in these tests.”

But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.