Articles by Marina Koestler Ruben

Articles by Marina Koestler Ruben WASHINGTON CITY PAPER “Middle Kingdom Meets Elementary School”: Cover story about Washington Yu Ying, D.C.’s first public charter school for Chinese language immersion – read article “Hire Education: Money Is No Object When You’re Tutoring Potomac’s Prodigies”: Cover story about tutoring in Potomac, Maryland – read article SMITHSONIAN.COM “The Rain in Spain … Read more

7 questions to ask before making an investment or investing.

7 questions to ask before making an investment or investing.

Investing can be a great way to grow your wealth and achieve financial stability. But with so many investment options available, it can be difficult to know which one is right for you. Before you invest, it’s important to ask yourself some key questions to make sure you’re making a sound decision. In this blog, … Read more

The Reading Promise

In March 2010, the New York Times printed an article about “The Streak,” a 3,218-night tradition: Jim  Brozina, a children’s librarian, read aloud to his daughter Kristen every night, starting when she was in fourth grade and going through her first night of college. Kristen–now going by her lit-inspired middle names, Alice Ozma–has written a memoir, The Reading Promise.  I expected a … Read more

Unexpected Lessons from Bossypants

Earlier this week, I read Bossypants, Tina Fey’s memoir-style humor book.  Knowing that Fey has a young daughter, I wanted to see if she’d say anything relevant to the parent-tutor mindset. She did, but not where I expected. Fey wrote about mothering, but of greater value were her thoughts on improvisational comedy: [The rule] of improvisation is … Read more

Read This Before Our Next Meeting: Brainstorming Tips

Brainstorming Tips

Through the BzzAgent program, I’ve been getting free Kindle copies of publications by The Domino Project.  Most recently, I received Read This Before Our Next Meeting: The modern meeting standard for successful organizations by Al Pittampalli.  (Anyone can download the digital edition for free until Tuesday, August 9.) The gist of the book is that meetings often hinder rather than help; Pittampalli describes … Read more

Why I Love the Penderwicks

Extreme Parenting

A How to Tutor blog reader (and mother of four), Sarah Lake, sent me this comment: I really love the way that you encourage parents to capitalize on teachable moments. I have spent years thinking that teaching my kids needs to be a formal affair, but that’s far from true!  Such a nice reminder, as much of our education comes … Read more

How the Duggars Homeschool their 19 Children

The Best Facebook Groups for Parents to Follow

As part of my quest to learn about individual families’ homeschooling experiences, I read The Duggars: 20 and Counting! Raising One of America’s Largest Families–How They Do It, by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar.  In case you’re trying to reconcile this blog post’s title with the book’s, the “20” refers to Michelle, Jim Bob, and the 18 J-name* children … Read more

How to Build on a Child’s Natural Interests

How to increase the educational value of your child's home life.

This weekend, I perused a review copy of Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick-Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in 2 Weeks, by Marie-Claire Moreau, Ed.D.  This guide provides a 14-day plan for parents who need to prepare to homeschool very quickly–intended for a child who had to leave school unexpectedly, for example due to health, social, academic, or emotional reasons. … Read more