Yes, I am. It's a question I heard often from parents of students taking Kristin's classes. Ah yes, that's me, the husband of Kristin. Once they knew who I was they'd go on about how great her classes were, how much their children were learning and how much their children enjoyed her classes. I suppose you could view this entry as a marketing ploy, but that is what I heard, and frankly, I was jealous! :-) Just kidding.
I really do think my wife did a great job with her classes and I think you'll like what she's offering here on ARTK12.
Anyway, when our son was born we decided early on that we were going to homeschool him. That started right away as we began reading to him long before he could talk. Books, books and more books. When he was very small I'd quote Emily Dickinson poems to him.
Early on Kristin and I shared homeschooling duties. However, Kris did most of the work researching books for science, math, english and Spanish. I handled literature reading our son dozens of books through the years. The Lord of Rings, Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, The Chronicles of Narnia, Flatland and more . . . a big part of our philosophy has been simply to read our son good books. Books that are interesting. NO TEXTBOOKS.
I think with every homeschooling philosophy you have doubts and we did too. I also believe strongly that you have to tailor education to a particular child. What works for one may not work for another. He wasn't reading as well as other kids his age, though he retained things well, but this worried us. We later learned he was dyslexic.
He's reading fine now and has read all the Harry Potter books on his own and he enjoys learning . . . the most vivid memories I have about my schooling was watching the clock to calculate how long it was until recess.
The last 4 or 5 years I haven't been involved as much after losing my good part-time job, going back to school, starting a business and attempting to make a living for our family.
The best thing I liked about the homeschooling philosophy that we adopted is that it was fun for both parent and child. There are enough things we as parents have to force our children to do and we didn't want learning to be one of them.
I am currently a web developer and programmer, father to my son and yes, the husband of Kristin Draeger, the founder of ARTK12. Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head (any Princess Bride fans out there?).