The fact he was home schooled piqued our interest in the enterprising 11-year-old. Once her children reach school age Maree becomes their teacher. At present that's Felicity, 9, Crawford, 8, Virginian, 6 and Quentin,5. Everard, 3, and newest baby Ambrose, three months, will follow.
Why home schooling, we ask? Maree says it was a natural "flow on" from the years the older children spent with koro Basil and their Nana, the late Imelda, while she worked at Chadwick Bidois (later Chadwick Law). "They learned so much from them and I firmly believe in the philosophy that family are children's first teachers so I simply extended it."
Maree acknowledges she knew nothing about teaching when she set out to home school Baxter. "Everything I sourced [for lessons] was free form the internet, we had dial-up then so it was a bit of a mission but, really, the only headache was having to buy so much printer ink."
A natural learner, Baxter made her foray into teaching easy.
Rob tells how, in his pre-school days, Baxter would devour children's encyclopaedias before lights out. "He'd come downstairs in the morning and tell us about what he'd learned the night before, but his best attributes are he's self-disciplined, listens and thinks things through."
As the children grew into their school years the Johnson-Ronald's turned their front room into a classroom; each child has their own computer terminal, a whiteboad's used to brainstorm and problem solve.
Timetables are fluid. The children set their own hours, generally staring at 6am and working until they feel in need of a break. "When they've completed a task they'll generally go and have a jump on the tramp then return for the next," says Rob.
Compared with 'regular' school kids Maree has no idea what year level her children have reached. Baxter and Felicity are both studying Spanish and Baxter's recently begun Mandarin. Maree's ascribes to the theory the younger children are the easier it is for them to pick up other tongues.
Her youngsters dabbled in Latin before Spanish which Baxter loves "because it's so like Maori in pronunciation".
So far he's the family's maths whiz. The only text books Maree's bought for any lessons are a boxed maths set - purchased on line.
As the oldest Baxter's also studying geography, history and English grammar. Inspired by the American presidential election he's become passionate about politics and is a news junkie.
The children's' knowledge of literature and spelling comes from the books they read. Felicity's a voracious reader, reading Little Women by the time she was seven, The Chronicles of Narnia at eight and she's now on to The Hobbit.
She's also a prolific artist, Crawford's showing a similar trait and both are keen cooks, inspired by the Junior Master Chef tele programme. This has added kitchen skills to their course work.
Maree doesn't accept lessons start and stop in the classroom. "We have car schooling using our surrounds to learn from, I'll see a sign and get the kids to multiple the number of kilometres on it with other numbers, work out how many zeros there are in something I've spotted, all those things are easy for any parent to do."
Field trips are family affairs. Recently the whanau spent a learning/fun weekend visiting MOTAT, Kelly Tarlton's, Auckland's museum and zoo. Nearer home the Redwoods are visited regularly.
Apart from their natural environment to learn from there's another reason for this, Maree says. "It's somewhere that's given them a good sense of direction, I spin them around and expect them to know where they are."
Extra curricular activates are paramount for the children who don't mix with others in the traditional playground setting.
Baxter and Felicity are both "into" St John and are Scouts; Quentin's a cub and each is mad keen on Tae Kwon Do.
Baxter and Felicity are brown belts, Crawford holds a blue, with Baxter again confirming he's one of life's winners, as the highest-ranked student in the Feast Tae Kwon Do Club. Felicity's 2nd and Crawford 6th in their respective classes. In 2011 Baxter won Feast's award for most dedicated student, last year he took out the same title regionally.
Clubs apart, the older children have inherited their dad's passion for motorbikes, riding on their home track, complete with jumps. The open road's a definite "no no".
Rob lost a leg when a car hit his bike in 1994, eleven years on he had another mishap which snapped his artificial leg and left him with multiple fractures.
"The brain damage still hasn't gone away," he deadpans. Humour's an integral part of the Johnson-Ronald home schooling ethos.
Maree can't say if her children will go on to more formal schooling as the grow older. Baxter's convinced he won't want to, and looks askance when we ask if he, his brother or sisters ever "cheek" the teacher. Such conduct's never occurred to them.
Rob puts it this way: "They are lucky they have the attributes of being disciplined, respectful children, that comes from their koro and Maree."