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I am here with another great Web site for the students in your life and one that we use all the time with our students at Ashley Tutors.

As adults, when we want to learn more about something, we have all been programmed to say, “Google it.” What are kids to do? Where can they go to investigate a subject that we know is safe? Here is what our tutors have been suggesting:

http://www.kidsclick.org/

This site was designed and is maintained by a group of librarians who were concerned about Internet safety and specifically search engines. These fine people developed a user friendly search engine that will be valuable to your student and direct them to age appropriate web sites. One tutor and his students forwarded me this neat fact from the site — did you know that Benjamin Franklin advertised the first pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729? I learned it at www.kidsclick.org!

The more and more we talk with parents all over Montgomery County, Md. and the Washington, D.C. area interested in Ashley Tutors, we are finding out that most students are very smart and motivated – organization in school is the main concern. During the first session, most of our tutors help their students get their binders, backpacks and even lives organized. Whether it be color coding their agendas, making new folders for each subject, or simply throwing away old papers — organization is something that is not taught in school but is vital to every student’s success. At Ashley Tutors, we recognize that and I think it is very important to help all of our students get organized!

AND, IT IS IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE TOO! So, here is how you can be more organized as a parent, at work or just surfing the net! I found this very cool site: www.mystickies.com. Here’s how it works — ever go to a web site and want to read an article on it but you don’t have time — put a “sticky” note on it, tag it with a name and come back to it. No need to bookmark the whole page, print the article out or put a sticky note on your computer screen — this site does it for you. The site even organizes your tags so they are easy to find! I usually don’t add tools like this to my computer because I am not computer genius (and I don’t play one at Ashley Tutors either) — but this is easy to use and super helpful!

Good Monday morning to everybody! I hope all is well and y’all enjoyed the weekend. While I spent a lot of time tutoring, I also spent some quality time checking out the Web site of our good friend Brian Cheek of A+ Home Tutors. Brian is based in San Francisco and has a similar outlook on tutoring and education. Plus, he has a dedicated and experienced team of tutors — just like Ashley Tutors.

We both share the same views on communication — which is why we both have journals! Take some time and check out his entry called, Little CEOs: Are kids too busy? Brian is seeing the same trend in the Bay Area that we are seeing here — between school, after school activities, students are working 60 hours a week and are as busy as CEOs! He writes about how his tutors are helping their students/CEOs stay ahead of the game even when it seems time is not on their side.

We have busy students and also supportive parents all over Montgomery County, Md. and the Washington, D.C. area who are turning to Ashley Tutors to help us keep their students organized, motivated and reaching their potential. Ashley Tutors is happy to help, and just like Brian’s strong team, our “tutors can take a load off the student, and a load off parents as well.”

If it is Tuesday, then it is time for testimonials with Ashley Tutors. We like to spotlight our amazing tutors — today Alex Alegria is up. Alex, who is a native of Guatemala and is producing an album to be released in the next few months, took kinesthetic learning to a new level. He used his songs written in Spanish and had his students perform them — “American Idol” style! Here is what a parent said about Alex:

“Spanish never came easy for my student, and she was beginning to get overwhelmed with the class. Ashley Tutors was able to match her with Alex, and the two of them have been working weekly on building a solid foundation for her Spanish skills that will benefit her for years. With Alex’s help, her confidence is up and she is now enjoying the class. Ashley Tutors really did make learning and Spanish fun!”

- Ms. Olga Rush, Parent

Winston Churchill High School (Potomac, MD)