whats a real life example of a series circuit and a parallel circuit?

Answer 1

Series circuit.

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Electricity/seriescircuit.htm

Parallel circuit.

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Electricity/parallelcircuit.htm

These might help explain a little better. It's hard to think of other series circuits besides the "light and switch", and still make the idea stick.
Parallel circuits are what makes up the electrical power in your house. All of your household AC powered items are in parallel with one another, therefore all see the same voltage(110~120VAC)

Answer 2

A series circuit would be a light bulb and a light switch in your home.

Parallel are Christmas tree lights where when one burns out, the others stay lit.

Answer 3

in your home...think of your electrical service at the panel .. all the circuits coming off the panel are parallel at this point (they all connect to the same power point)....next think of your kitchen lights...when you turn on the switch and all the lights come on it is because they are wired in series from light to light.