I've taken a different approach switching to ruby(on rails). I was eager to learn a framework to simplify stuff in php, so I learned CakePHP. This MVC experience eventually led me to the bigger brother ruby on rails and from there, I bought the pickaxe book and learned ruby. Was this the best way? definitely not :)

So my advice is: First, work a weekend with bare ruby, there are lots of good and extensive resources on the web. Second, if you enjoyed working with ruby, try another weekend learning basic MVC Rails. Good resource is rails for zombies (http://railsforzombies.org/), where the basics are well shown, and you can work through this on one weekend. Third, try converting one of your small projects to rails. There will be a lot of hiccups and frustration, but once the first project is done, you will simply love ruby.

I hope this helped you a bit, although I have not directly answered your questions (mostly because the given answers are the ones I would write, too).