One of the things I love to do here at the Topher Project is draw attention to people that are doing something.

It’s so easy for all of us to say somebody should do something. But it takes a special kind of person to say, “Well, I’m a somebody, so I’m going to go and do what I can.” And my guest today is one such somebody. But it’s a topic that’s also very close to my heart. Something that you may not be aware of is that I was homeschooled. Now I’m in my 40s now. So being homeschooled at primary school age was very, very unusual 35 or so years ago when we were doing it. Something very rare, particularly if you lived in the city as we did. It was something school of the air and remote education was something for people that lived in remote communities and out on cattle stations. It wasn’t done by people in suburbia. And yet, my family very much did that, myself and my brothers. And I consider homeschooling to be one of the greatest gifts that my parents ever gave to me, one of the kindest things that they ever did for me.

But, and you might be shocked to learn this, the government doesn’t really like it when you take your children out of their hands and take it upon yourself to train them and prepare them for life. And so, being homeschooled has always been fraught with regulatory difficulties. None more so than the difficulties being faced right now by Lydia Denka, who started a homeschooling academy to support other homeschooling moms and parents and is discovering that at least in the state of Victoria that can be very much a legal land mine.

Lydia joins me now on the Topher Project. Lydia, thank you so much for coming on. Can we begin just with I guess a little bit of an exploration of what got you into homeschooling? What was the problem that you were seeking to solve? And what was the response when you launched your academy?

[From video]

Thank you for having me. Um, so as my son, I’m a mom. I have a now 16-year-old, nearly 17-year-old son. Um, and in 2021 during the lockdowns, my son was really struggling with school. Uh, the in and out of school, uh, being a new kid all the time, starting high school, the mask mandates. At the time, my son did have an exemption for the mask, but unfortunately, he didn’t want to not wear a mask ’cause he didn’t want to be the odd one out. Um, but I did encourage him to wear his mask under his nose and he got into a lot of trouble for that regularly. So, um, he got more and more anxious. He got more and more upset. [End video]

I’m sorry to interrupt this interview with Lydia. We’ll get back to that in just a moment. But my name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project and I am 100% viewer supported. So, if you appreciate this kind of Australian content for Australians, bringing you stories that the mainstream media don’t necessarily like to talk about, then please support my work here at the Topher Project by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net and also by checking out my books, DVDs, and merch from goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. Everything you buy will be helping me to keep bringing you stories like this.

[From video]

Now, let’s get back to the interview with Lydia. Um, every morning when I used to drop him off, he’d be in tears and within 20 minutes, I get a call having to pick him up. Um, I started getting frustrated. It was breaking my heart watching him feel the pain that he was feeling. And of course, I was also getting frustrated with school. And so, I made the decision with him. At the time though, I had just also lost my business. I had a beauty salon which closed down during the lockdowns unfortunately. Um, and the idea of homeschooling him, trying to figure out how I was going to provide as a family and all the things that come with being a mom anyway, um, it was very overwhelming. The idea of homeschooling was very scary and I didn’t know how to go about it.

I looked for support and there was support, but not the kind of support that I was looking for. Um, so I decided to reach out to the community, ask families if they wanted to put in money together and we would hire a tutor to help teach our kids whilst they’re homeschooling. And the call, the cry out I received was overwhelming because I had over a thousand emails come back needing this kind of support. And when I realized that it wasn’t just me that needed this kind of support, I decided to open Homeschool Academy. Yeah [End video]

You know what. That’s incredible. And homeschooling is the most popular it’s ever been in Australia. It was actually aided by the pandemic. So many parents were exposed to just how difficult school can be for kids. It’s not an environment that is suited to every single kid. And of course, parents were forced to homeschool in a fashion. It’s not true homeschooling, but they were forced to do it to some degree due to the lockdowns and the school closures, etc. Anyway, so a lot more parents were exposed to it.

So you started this academy. Now I know that the education sector and the education system is fraught with regulation and as homeschoolers you can work with other homeschooling families but there are rules and definitions around what constitutes a school and the government can often be very aggressive about protecting that and making sure that you cooperating with other homeschooling families or you becoming a homeschooling tutor doesn’t cross into that threshold of being a school. But you ran for some years without any trouble before this recent trouble came up. Is that correct?

[From video]

That’s correct. So in 2021 before I even launched, um, they had come and investigate our programs. They had seen on the website and they thought maybe I’m an unregistered school. So when they did the investigations, they explained to me what a school is, what a school isn’t. They gave me advice on how I need to change some of my offerings, some of my programs. So I did everything they asked me to do. I worked with them and I changed my programs and made sure that we weren’t offering all eight learning areas. We only offered five at the time. We weren’t going to do everything. Um, and we were offering single subject options. So, uh, it was from their advice that we decided to do that. So they gave us the green light, the go ahead, happy for us to do the programs and we haven’t had any problems since until last year in August 2024, where they suddenly contacted me again advising me that they’re investigating well they didn’t actually advise me that I’m being investigated. They requested personal information from my family and um I believed it was probably because they were investigating me and they suggested that I might be in an illegal school.

When I advised them and reminded them that we’ve been through this, they’ve already done the investigations. They’ve already given us the tick of approval. Nothing’s changed. Actually, things are less like a school now than they were back then. Our hours have changed. We’re offering even less learning areas. Um, they forgot. They said that never happened. Um, I must be mistaking. And even though I have all the evidence, everything in writing, they’re ignoring it. They’re completely ignoring it. Yeah. [End video]

So, a case of a bureaucratic amnesia there. Now, my understanding is they’re actually threatening to essentially take you to court if you keep operating for what is the deadline, in sometime in October, I believe?

[From video]

So what has happened is, um, they actually demanded I stop working in Victoria in January. They requested that I stop servicing Victorian families. Uh, by law they don’t have the authority to demand that. So I continued. Um, but in October the legislations changed officially. So they put in new legislations last October and they were approved, which gives them a lot more authority. And with this authority, knowing how they’ve already come after me, how they’ve already removed a lot of my families and given false information about our services to families, hindering them from joining our programs and even leaving our programs um, I am fully aware that they will be using the new powers and authorities that they have in October to come after Homeschool Academy, which gives them the power to shut me down. It gives them the power to fine us and um and I’ll end up being in court trying to prove that I’m not a school. [End video]

So Lydia, I want to ask you some pointed questions here. In the history of your business, have any of the families lodged any formal complaints about you or the quality of what you provide? Have there ever been any quality issues, any educational standard issues, any actual problems with the service that your homeschool academy has provided to your clients?

[From video]

Never. No, we’ve not had any issues like that. Well, there’s a couple reasons why we wouldn’t. One, because um… Sorry. [End video]

No, you go.

[From video]

I was just saying, um, they wouldn’t because all our tutors are qualified teachers and we do align to a degree with the Australian curriculum and ultimately the parents are the school. So the parents decide what they want their children to do, how they want them to learn. They have the power and the control. So, um, it would be odd if there was any complaints it’s kind of something that can’t happen, but it definitely hasn’t happened. [End video]

And so just to be absolutely clear for the sake of our viewers, this is a government bureaucracy, a government department acting on its own behalf, off its own bat, not on behalf of victims or families that have been defrauded because you haven’t provided services that you promised or anything like that. This is bureaucrats acting off their own initiative.

[From video] That’s correct. Yes. [End video]

So what are your plans then? Because it is quite an intimidating thing to stare down a government department. They have deep pockets. They have a lot of resources. Uh, you’re by the sounds of it from what you’ve just said to me you’re planning on continuing, you’re planning on seeing this through and you’re expecting that this will lead you into court. Tell me a little bit about the road ahead as far as you see it.

[From video]

It’s been a tough road already. It’s been over 12 months now. Um, losing over half of the business because of the overreach and the blurred lines. Um, and I’m going to say misinformation that’s been given. Um, it’s been tough and it’s been hard to just keep running as it is. I’m fighting for our families and all the kids that need this because we do deal with a lot of vulnerable children. Um, the majority of the kids using our programs have a background of self harm. Um, children who are neurodiverse and who have been bullied. So these kids need us.

Um, the department the VRQA have with every letter they’ve always said “become a school.” Here’s a link. Become a school. And I do not want to become a school. Homeschool Academy cannot be a school because the kids that use our programs don’t suit the school. So, we need to keep this open. Um, the only way I see us being able to keep it open is going to court and proving that we’re not a school. Um, and trying to get our, I guess, reputation back in Victoria especially because of the harm and the damage they caused. So ultimately this will end up in a court. We’ve got a month um where I will be expecting to be contacted um where I will have to hand over whatever they ask of me and yeah it’s going to be a battle. [End video]

Well so often with these things the process is the punishment. Even if you were to fight them and win, they will have drained you of an enormous amount of cash, as you say, damaged your reputation, said things about you, uh, which they can say in the meantime, but the court case might decide that those things aren’t even true. And yet, those things have still been said and they’re still out there. Uh, and of course, an enormous amount of personal stress and so forth that you’re enduring. It takes a special kind of person to face that down and to be willing to do that. And I applaud you for your stance. If people wanted to get in touch with you, if they wanted to support you, if they wanted to journey with you on this, what would be the best way for people to do that?

[From video]

Oh, it’d be amazing. So, we definitely need a lawyer. Um, if you can get in touch with us, um, we have a GoFundMe as well. I hesitated on that, but um, I do need help. Homeschool Academy does need help to win this. I tried to do it alone as long as possible. Um, but I’m no longer able to do this alone. So, I do need the community and I do need support. So, we do have a GoFundMe. And you know, if there are lawyers or anyone out there that would love to support us, um, they can reach out to me as well via um well I can give you the details and they can reach out to you so they can reach out to me. [End video]

I’ll put the contact details and the GoFundMe into the description of this video on YouTube so that anyone can just click those links. You’ll find those down below if you’re looking for them. Well Lydia, I wish more strength to your arm. I wish we had more people like you. People who can see a problem, see a need, step in to meet that need. Uh, and then when the bureaucrats come for them, they’re actually willing and we’re willing to have that fight and to go through that what can be a very arduous process. I look forward to staying up to date with your story. I’ll happily have you back and keep my viewers informed as this story progresses. And as someone for whom homeschooling is very, very near and dear to my heart, I would like to personally appeal to all of my own viewers and all of my own supporters to seriously have a think about getting behind Lydia and helping her in her fight.

In the meantime, Lydia, thank you so much for coming on the Topher Project.

[From video] Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. [End video]

Well, that was Lydia with the Homeschool Academy and she has a fight on her hands. Please check out the links in the description of this video to see how you can help her to mount that challenge against the Victorian government if they do indeed try and drag her into court.

My name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project and I am 100% viewer supported. I’m so grateful to every one of you that has bought me a coffee or has gone and bought my books or my DVDs or indeed my merchandise because each and every one of you is helping me to bring more and more stories just like this one. So, if you haven’t already, head over to topherfield.net and buy me a coffee via the button there or head over to goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com where you’ll find my books, my DVDs, and my merch.

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