‘A Teacher’s Dream’: Moira Deeming MP on Her Journey From Teacher to Homeschooler

James Laurie, aged 8, is assisted in his online work by his mother Laurette as he continues home schooling in London, on Jan. 25, 2021. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Before m made headlines for her expulsion from the Victorian Liberal Party for attending a women’s rights rally, she was a high school teacher for 12 years with a passion for helping her students excel.

Ms. Deeming received her teaching degree from the prestigious University of Melbourne; however, two key experiences made her realise the advantages and benefits of homeschooling over regular schooling.

“Everything that is a teacher’s dream is available at home,” she said about homeschooling. “My marriage improved. I got to know my children.”

Speaking at the Friedman Conference in Sydney on July 8-9, Ms. Deeming revealed that at her first encounter with a homeschooling family, she was left with an impression of “absolute horror.”

“I’m ashamed of this,” she said. “I couldn’t help but wonder what they did to their kids. They were socially awkward and unfashionable ... Immediately, I blamed the parents and their decision to homeschool for ruining their children.”

“At that moment, I was 22 years old, childless, and socially awkward myself.”

A few years into her teaching career, Ms. Deeming was disappointed to see that a teacher was more about following school schedules and delivering the curriculum than actually teaching children.

“I learned that school is just designed to standardise everything. It’s just a bunch of tick boxes; it cannot humanise those kids in the classroom,” she said. “It was very, very depressing because I really care about my kids.”

In her fifth year of teaching, Ms. Deeming was tired of materials like Shrek and Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief. She spent one term getting permission from the school principal to teach her students John Steinbeck’s The Pearl.

“My students were so illiterate that I didn’t make them read it out loud because that was degrading at that stage,” she said. “I read it to them.”

Her students loved the learning experience and were “hooked on every word.”

But by the end of that year, following complaints by colleagues, “they successfully replaced The Pearl with a graphic novel and replaced the major writing assignment with a drawing one.”

The Last Straw

As frustration with her job increased, Ms. Deeming was told news that her eldest daughter was being badly bullied. It was so severe that her daughter developed a stutter.

“It was just this moment where I thought I made a mistake. She’s my daughter, I’m her mother,” she said.

It was then that Ms. Deeming withdrew her daughter from school and started homeschooling, which she initially thought would only last for a year.

“I didn’t think about homeschooling permanently then,” she said. “Long story short ... I loved it, she loved it.”

Children take part in homeschooling, studying mathematics, English and sciences from their homes. (Peter Byrne/PA)

Ms. Deeming appreciated moving through content at the child’s pace, allowing time for complete mastery before moving on.

“I was not allowed to have such high standards for my students at school,” she said.

It also improved her family relationships and allowed her to connect and bond with her children.

“I was thinking, ‘What are these feminists talking about? This is the greatest time of my life,’” she said.

Growing Community of Home Schoolers

Ms. Deeming encourages more parents to take up homeschooling to help children thrive in their areas of interest and to, pass on values, and create a stronger family bond.

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t be intimidated by bureaucratically trained teachers,” she said. “I learned nothing in that degree.”

“It’s the fastest growing actual educational sector in Australia. It’s a worldwide phenomenon.”

After COVID-19 lockdowns revealed to parents the content their children were learning at school, homeschooling grew in popularity in Australia.

In the state of Queensland, primary year homeschool registrations in 2022 grew by 137 percent from 2018, and high school registrations by 204 percent in the same period.

Meanwhile, New South Wales witnessed a nearly two-fold increase in homeschooling numbers between 2017 and 2021.

Real Numbers of Homeschoolers Much Higher

Mark Hornshaw, an economics lecturer at Notre Dame Australia, said many homeschoolers are unregistered, so the real number of homeschoolers is much bigger.

“If you’ve never been in the school system, they basically don’t know you exist, and you just fly under the radar. Probably about 50 percent of homeschoolers are unregistered,” he said.

For families who are unable to provide homeschooling, Maya Tesa, a community advocate, said parents need to get heavily involved in the school system and their children’s education.

“We have taken ourselves out of the equation. And so the government stepped in,” she said.

“We need to step back into our roles. We need to become exactly who we are supposed to be. Not just parents, but protectors, providers.”