We were home schooling fans before home schooling was cool.

Many of our friends taught their children at home in the 1990s. We saw the educational, emotional and, most importantly, spiritual value of it back then and decided we would follow the same path. My wife started teaching our son at home when he was 4. She teaches our first daughter now as well, and our youngest daughter starts her studies in two years.

To the average outside observer, folks like us are still “serious and spooky,” but we may not be the oddballs of society much longer. Home schooling is soaring in popularity.

A home schooling movement is sweeping the nation — with 1.5 million children now learning at home, an increase of 75 percent since 1999.

The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics reported home schooling has risen by 36 percent in just the last five years. “There’s no reason to believe it would not keep going up,” NCES statistician Gail Mulligan told USA Today.

Welcome to the club, everyone. The more home-schoolers, the merrier America will be.