Testimonials from Parents and Students:
July 2024
Hello Holly,
We hope you have been well and are enjoying a light summer between school years. It has been three years since Maegan graduated from Huckleberry, but I was just reminded (again) of how lucky our families are to have been part of your teaching journey, and wanted to share. Thank you for your caring, and for all the lifelong gifts you impart. I recognize your influences in Maegan, consistently and often. Thinking back, I smile as I recall her enthusiasm and creativity as she and her friends completed class assignments, nurtured and motivated by your openness to their unique processes and desires. Your lessons simultaneously taught the useful tools of time-management, attention to detail, and the value of structure (and flexibility), while instilling a sense of confidence in their abilities to accomplish those goals with creativity and individuality. You ignited and cultivated their curious analytical eyes, and their appreciation for knowledge and good writing in any form, including literature, poetry, speech, critical analysis, or an editorial opinion. You changed and enhanced the way they look at the world, and literally altered their capacity to do so. With another semester of teaching behind you, my husband and I just wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated. We hope it brings you great pleasure to know you’re unleashing another group of very capable young adults into the world. Thanks, again!
Best,
JF
"Holly is the BEST writing teacher you can find for any grade level. She has a caring and open approach to each student's individual writing style that allows her to work so well with everyone! And I really appreciate how she helps to improve not only the structure and style of writing, but the grammar, vocabulary and creativity as well. There is not a more qualified instructor anywhere. She truly is the BEST!!! I highly recommend her." - Susan, wife, mother and M. Ed.
After only a couple ACT prep sessions with Holly, I was able to improve my ACT reading score by 5 points, which brought my composite score up by 2 points. My struggle was to finish the reading section in the short allotted time. Holly's strategies helped me to understand what the test was looking for so that I could finish accurately and with time to spare. I'm so happy Holly helped me to improve my score, which was a primary factor in my recent admittance to USC. - Lydia DiBlasio, student
"Holly is absolutely wonderful and has worked with my children for several years. She has helped my children develop writing skills well above grade level and enabled them to consistently produce high quality work. My children have learned essay organization and creative writing skills in addition to critical analysis of literature that will benefit them through their college years and beyond." --Christine Unthank
"Holly Van Houten is singlehandedly responsible for my child going from being writing phobic to being able to stay at the computer and let his imagination run wild. He is now no longer sitting at the table, pencil in his hand, staring into space. Now, after Holly's help, he takes a hold of the keyboard until his imagination has run its course. She is an amazing teacher, she sparks kids' creativity, creates interest in literary subjects and challenges kids to imagine even further than they knew that they could. I would highly recommend Holly to anyone looking to tutor their child, teach their child and help them expand their writing capabilities."
-Stacy Elder Herb, [email protected]
Dear Holly,
I was able to eavesdrop on your class a few times earlier and I found it to be a glimpse of how education should actually be in America: Students were engaged, active debate and discussion, and appropriate feedback.
-G.G. Huck Parent & History Instructor
"Best teacher I have had! She helped me come from being unable to read critically or write well, to being able to avidly read and write. Love her and recommend her to everyone!" -- Jessi Sande
My daughter has received so many writing awards in college it's hard to keep up! Professors refer other students to her to get help with MLA style writing, better analysis, how to write an intro, etc. But she wasn't always such an amazing writer. In 4th grade she ran running away from the charter school testing site because they wanted her to write an essay about a dog. But then she had Miss Holly for her classes from 5th grade - 8th grade, and it made all the difference. Holly made thinking the priority so my daughter and her friends could spend time in class thinking about why something was happening in a story, what the author wanted her to think about, what were the layers to a character. She always learned a bit about herself and the world in each book they read. Under Holly's continuous guidance, her thinking and her writing got progressively better as each year went by. Each paper would focus on improving one aspect of her writing. By the time she was in 9th grade she was ready for community college writing classes where she was fully prepared to succeed. She continued on to university where she could focus on learning, not on learning to write. She already had that skill mastered. So many thanks to Holly for helping her in such a crucial skill that she will use for the rest of her life! -- Stephanie Berry (Director of the Huckleberry Center for Creative Learning)
"Time with Mrs. Holly is beneficial because of the personalized and precise comments she can supply for specific points in one's writing. By her encouraging words and helpful tips, writing is made tangible and fun to students like me." -- Emily Hyun
"Holly has been working with with my two boys,11 and 14 years old, for a few years. Their passion for writing has flourished into more advanced, above grade level essays. She is supportive, fun to work with, and makes writing an opportunity to be creative. It's great to hear my boys make plans for new stories and want to write. She always gets them excited about writing and they are both happy to work with her." -- Colleen Graves
"Holly has significantly improved my daughter's writing and confidence in regards to writing. Thank you, Holly!" -- Michele Balandran
"Holly Van Houten has very impressive credentials but honestly, there are lots of folks with long, power resumes. What makes her amazing, unique, and truly inspiring is that she makes INTENSE LEARNING FUUUUNNNN! Many of you know I used to teach at a home school cooperative called Huckleberry Creative Learning. "Huck" is a GREAT place and EVERY student I had couldn't wait to go to their Writing/Literature/English Class! Can you IMAGINE? This woman actually had people WANTING to study the glories of the English language...WANTING to write and read and create. I don't care if you have an elementary school student or you have gone back to college after a million years, CONTACT THIS WOMAN; you will be SOOO glad!" -- Cathy Riso
It's been over a decade since I've taken one of Holly's classes, but I still think back to her lessons whenever I have to write something. She taught me many valuable lessons regarding essay writing, and helped grow my understanding of the English language. I will always be thankful for having Holly as a Language Arts teacher.
DG - Student
Holly provided such a strong foundation in Language Arts for my son. Even though she teaches such valuable lessons, she teaches in ways that do not appear as 'hard work' because she is engaging the students in every way. Any student who is lucky enough to take one of Holly's classes will have amazing Language Arts skills for life! CG - Parent
"I've had my two youngest in her classes and had her work with each privately. They both tested (after working with her) right into English 101, both got A's and one with HONORS!And prior to working with her, I would have said they were very average, and one was a reluctant writer!" -- Penny Sande
July 2024
Hello Holly,
We hope you have been well and are enjoying a light summer between school years. It has been three years since Maegan graduated from Huckleberry, but I was just reminded (again) of how lucky our families are to have been part of your teaching journey, and wanted to share. Thank you for your caring, and for all the lifelong gifts you impart. I recognize your influences in Maegan, consistently and often. Thinking back, I smile as I recall her enthusiasm and creativity as she and her friends completed class assignments, nurtured and motivated by your openness to their unique processes and desires. Your lessons simultaneously taught the useful tools of time-management, attention to detail, and the value of structure (and flexibility), while instilling a sense of confidence in their abilities to accomplish those goals with creativity and individuality. You ignited and cultivated their curious analytical eyes, and their appreciation for knowledge and good writing in any form, including literature, poetry, speech, critical analysis, or an editorial opinion. You changed and enhanced the way they look at the world, and literally altered their capacity to do so. With another semester of teaching behind you, my husband and I just wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated. We hope it brings you great pleasure to know you’re unleashing another group of very capable young adults into the world. Thanks, again!
Best,
JF
"Holly is the BEST writing teacher you can find for any grade level. She has a caring and open approach to each student's individual writing style that allows her to work so well with everyone! And I really appreciate how she helps to improve not only the structure and style of writing, but the grammar, vocabulary and creativity as well. There is not a more qualified instructor anywhere. She truly is the BEST!!! I highly recommend her." - Susan, wife, mother and M. Ed.
After only a couple ACT prep sessions with Holly, I was able to improve my ACT reading score by 5 points, which brought my composite score up by 2 points. My struggle was to finish the reading section in the short allotted time. Holly's strategies helped me to understand what the test was looking for so that I could finish accurately and with time to spare. I'm so happy Holly helped me to improve my score, which was a primary factor in my recent admittance to USC. - Lydia DiBlasio, student
"Holly is absolutely wonderful and has worked with my children for several years. She has helped my children develop writing skills well above grade level and enabled them to consistently produce high quality work. My children have learned essay organization and creative writing skills in addition to critical analysis of literature that will benefit them through their college years and beyond." --Christine Unthank
"Holly Van Houten is singlehandedly responsible for my child going from being writing phobic to being able to stay at the computer and let his imagination run wild. He is now no longer sitting at the table, pencil in his hand, staring into space. Now, after Holly's help, he takes a hold of the keyboard until his imagination has run its course. She is an amazing teacher, she sparks kids' creativity, creates interest in literary subjects and challenges kids to imagine even further than they knew that they could. I would highly recommend Holly to anyone looking to tutor their child, teach their child and help them expand their writing capabilities."
-Stacy Elder Herb, [email protected]
Dear Holly,
I was able to eavesdrop on your class a few times earlier and I found it to be a glimpse of how education should actually be in America: Students were engaged, active debate and discussion, and appropriate feedback.
-G.G. Huck Parent & History Instructor
"Best teacher I have had! She helped me come from being unable to read critically or write well, to being able to avidly read and write. Love her and recommend her to everyone!" -- Jessi Sande
My daughter has received so many writing awards in college it's hard to keep up! Professors refer other students to her to get help with MLA style writing, better analysis, how to write an intro, etc. But she wasn't always such an amazing writer. In 4th grade she ran running away from the charter school testing site because they wanted her to write an essay about a dog. But then she had Miss Holly for her classes from 5th grade - 8th grade, and it made all the difference. Holly made thinking the priority so my daughter and her friends could spend time in class thinking about why something was happening in a story, what the author wanted her to think about, what were the layers to a character. She always learned a bit about herself and the world in each book they read. Under Holly's continuous guidance, her thinking and her writing got progressively better as each year went by. Each paper would focus on improving one aspect of her writing. By the time she was in 9th grade she was ready for community college writing classes where she was fully prepared to succeed. She continued on to university where she could focus on learning, not on learning to write. She already had that skill mastered. So many thanks to Holly for helping her in such a crucial skill that she will use for the rest of her life! -- Stephanie Berry (Director of the Huckleberry Center for Creative Learning)
"Time with Mrs. Holly is beneficial because of the personalized and precise comments she can supply for specific points in one's writing. By her encouraging words and helpful tips, writing is made tangible and fun to students like me." -- Emily Hyun
"Holly has been working with with my two boys,11 and 14 years old, for a few years. Their passion for writing has flourished into more advanced, above grade level essays. She is supportive, fun to work with, and makes writing an opportunity to be creative. It's great to hear my boys make plans for new stories and want to write. She always gets them excited about writing and they are both happy to work with her." -- Colleen Graves
"Holly has significantly improved my daughter's writing and confidence in regards to writing. Thank you, Holly!" -- Michele Balandran
"Holly Van Houten has very impressive credentials but honestly, there are lots of folks with long, power resumes. What makes her amazing, unique, and truly inspiring is that she makes INTENSE LEARNING FUUUUNNNN! Many of you know I used to teach at a home school cooperative called Huckleberry Creative Learning. "Huck" is a GREAT place and EVERY student I had couldn't wait to go to their Writing/Literature/English Class! Can you IMAGINE? This woman actually had people WANTING to study the glories of the English language...WANTING to write and read and create. I don't care if you have an elementary school student or you have gone back to college after a million years, CONTACT THIS WOMAN; you will be SOOO glad!" -- Cathy Riso
It's been over a decade since I've taken one of Holly's classes, but I still think back to her lessons whenever I have to write something. She taught me many valuable lessons regarding essay writing, and helped grow my understanding of the English language. I will always be thankful for having Holly as a Language Arts teacher.
DG - Student
Holly provided such a strong foundation in Language Arts for my son. Even though she teaches such valuable lessons, she teaches in ways that do not appear as 'hard work' because she is engaging the students in every way. Any student who is lucky enough to take one of Holly's classes will have amazing Language Arts skills for life! CG - Parent
"I've had my two youngest in her classes and had her work with each privately. They both tested (after working with her) right into English 101, both got A's and one with HONORS!And prior to working with her, I would have said they were very average, and one was a reluctant writer!" -- Penny Sande