How to Tutor Your Own Child: Boost Grades and Instill a Lifelong Love of Learning - Without Paying for a Professional Tutor

Tutoring today is a $4 billion industry (yes-billion) with companies like Sylvan Learning Center and Kaplan Tutoring cashing in. So, what are parents of today's overextended students to do? Top professional tutor Marina Koestler Ruben empowers you to take a do-it-yourself approach to your child's after-school enrichment. As a parent-tutor, you will learn how provide holistic academic support for your children and create an intellectual environment in the home-strengthening your relationship and improving parent-child communication in the process. Ruben's accessible guide shows you how to balance big-picture curiosity with the academic nitty-gritties of homework assignments, organization, and electronic resources. Building on her proven "Six-Step Session" format, Ruben shares the secrets to tutoring children in any subject from kindergarten through high school-all with a warm, entertaining tone that will inspire you to inspire them. Marina Koestler Ruben works for Sidwell Friends School as a writing teacher, for the Johns Hopkins University as a course developer and instructor of undergraduate and graduate writing courses, and as a freelance writer, editor, and writing consultant. She has written for Smithsonian Magazine, CNN, Education Week, McSweeney's, and the Washington City Paper, and has worked as an education writer for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Acknowledgments vii   Foreword ix   Introduction The Best Tutors I Never Knew I Had 1   CHAPTER 1 Starting Out: Why Tutor? 5   CHAPTER 2 Getting Down To It: The Basics 14   CHAPTER 3 Mindset over Matter: Thinking Like a Professional Tutor 44   CHAPTER 4 Feasts, Field Trips, and Froebel: The Creative Parent-Tutor  70   CHAPTER 5 Put It on the Wall: Living the Parent-Tutor Lifestyle 92   CHAPTER 6 iDont Think iKnow Where My Homework Is: Helping Kids Connect and Organize for the Twenty-First Century 110   CHAPTER 7 How Much for an A? The Ethical Parent-Tutor 139   CHAPTER 8 Points of Contact: Parent-Tutored Teens 162   Resources 180   Notes 188   About the Author 191   Index 192