Introduction

I thought it would be worthwhile to provide a quick introduction to our family and how we got homeschooling.
My wife is Jeanette and I am Matt. She is a stay at home Mom and I work as an electrical engineer. Our kids are Ethan (8), Ammon(5), Elise(3), and Faith(3 weeks). We live on a couple of acres in Oregon and have a really wonderful life.
My wife started homeschooling when she was about 7 years old. Her parents read a lot of John Holt and his influence combined with a really bad second grade teacher made it relatively easy for them to start Jeanette homeschooling. It was really rather new back then, and as a result Jeanette is one of the few homeschooling parents we know that was homeschooled as a child. It seems like most first generation homeschooling parents are excited to homeschool but at the same time are scared that they're going to somehow mess things up for their children as adults by taking them out of the mainstream education/socialization system. Jeanette is an example of a nice normal adult who happened to be homeschooled as well, which is calming to those fears homeschooling parents have.
I reluctantly agreed to homeschooling when we were engaged because I liked her so much. I was like the boyfriend that joined the church to get the girl, but when I saw the fruits of homeschooling I became truly converted.
I think the key turning point for me was when I discovered that Ethan was reading faster than me and with great reading comprehension. I expected my kids to eventually overtake me in some areas, but I'm a big reader and I guess I never expected that an 8 year old would be an even better one. It really hit me how effective homeschooling can be. Especially when parents get out of the way and let their kids pursue their passions.
We probably follow an unschool approach more than anything but we've also been influenced by a Thomas Jefferson Education written by Oliver Demille. There is also a great community of homeschoolers where we live which has been a great influence on us as well.
Hopefully this has provided you some background on where we're coming from. Thanks for coming to our blog and we hope you return often.