More and more families are homeschooling. Many say they had no choice
Updated . First published
Geni Kelepouris had never entertained the idea of homeschooling until her daughter Lizzie was suspended 21 times in one year.
With three other children educated in mainstream school, the Mackay mum is one of several parents nine.com.au has spoken to who would never have imagined they’d be homeschooling one or more of their children.
Geni Kelepouris and her daughter Lizzie, whom she homeschools. Geni Kelepouris
“It was like the moment she even looked at someone the wrong way, I’d get a phone call,” Kelepouris said.
“And I’m like, ‘How is this actually helping her?’”
Kelepouris said sometimes she’d arrive at school to find Lizzie, who has level 2 autism and ADHD, “roaming around the school by herself”.
She then decided to switch Lizzie to a smaller school.
“I thought a smaller school would be better, but they had four different teachers rotating through one classroom during the week.
“For an autistic child, it’s impossible for them to cope with a different person every day in the classroom. There’s no consistency.”
They also experimented with a modified timetable, where Lizzie would attend school just two hours a day - but it didn’t help.
“A lot of her meltdowns were because she was not understanding what’s going on in the classroom, because she’d spent so many shortened days she was missing out on so much and that just made it worse.”
As a single mother on disability support, Kelepouris said she turned to homeschooling in May as a last resort.
She is far from alone.
The number of children being homeschooled across the country was steadily rising even before the COVID pandemic saw a considerable boost, and Queensland is growing the fastest, recording a 110 per cent increase in registrations of primary year level children and a 163 per cent increase in secondary year level children from 2021 to 2025.
There’s currently 47,000 children homeschooled across the country for all kinds of reasons, including lifestyle and wellbeing, remote living, flexibility for travel or sports and arts commitments, as well as philosophical, religious, or ideological reasons.
But data from Australia’s largest online homeschool provider, Euka Future Learning, reveals that almost half of families are “accidental homeschoolers” whose decision to homeschool is not a lifestyle choice but a response to crisis, either bullying or social issues (34 per cent) or unmet individual needs including neurodivergence (14 per cent).
The report also acknowledges there is significant overlap where neurodivergent children also suffer bullying and exclusion leading to social anxiety and school refusal.
Euka founder Ellen Brown said socialisation - often held up as a reason for parents to stick with mainstream schooling - was fast becoming the main driver for leaving as rates of bullying surge across the nation.
“It’s often the very reason why kids are actually having to leave school, because of the negative socialisation at school,” Brown said.
Ellen Brown, founder of Euka Future Learning, Australia's largest online homeschooling provider. Euka Future Learning
“That relationship between parents and kids has really improved in the last generation and what we’re willing to accept for our kids has changed a bit too.
“Parents are willing to stand up and advocate for their kids whereas in the past, it was like, ‘Oh, the school will handle it’.
“And so, parents will step up for their kids and say, ‘You know what? This isn’t working’.”
‘What’s the point of sending them to school?’
According to Dr Rebecca English, a senior lecturer in education at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), some families of children subject to repeat “school disciplinary absences” decide to homeschool to ensure their child will get an education.
“Families end up in this situation where the neurodivergent child’s behaviour just doesn’t gel with the classroom,” English explained.
Dr Rebecca English is a senior lecturer in education at the Queensland University of Technology. QUT
“They end up on suspension, and they’re on so many suspensions that the parent goes, ‘What’s the point of sending them to school? I’m just home with them all the time anyway. They’ll have a more consistent education if they’re homeschooled’.
“And I’ve heard anecdotal reports from families who told me that principals have said, ‘Look, we aren’t really able to cater to young mate’s needs, you might want to look at homeschooling’.”
She said neurodivergent or socially anxious kids had a “target on their back” for bullies.
“All of these factors compound, and then this young person just hates school so much that they don’t want to go, or won’t go, or can’t go, or they’ve got suicidal ideation, all sorts of really awful experiences, they’re quite sick,” English said.
“Families are running out of road, they don’t have any other choices, parents reports schools are understaffed and not able to meet young people’s needs, and then they wind up with no other choice but to homeschool.
“One of the things that parents tell me all the time is that it’s not teachers.
“Teachers are working incredibly hard in incredibly difficult circumstances and doing everything that they can. But it’s the system that is broken.”
Sarah* from Queensland’s Moreton Bay region began homeschooling her son Ben* after he was put on a modified timetable, attending just two hours a day, in Year 1.
At the time, Ben was in the process of being diagnosed with autism and ADHD.
She said when the school hadn’t started to transition Ben back to full days by the end of the term she decided to homeschool him, given she’d already had to quit her job to accommodate the shortened school days.
“It was sort of like, I was there anyway, so I may as well do it,” she said.
“But I was planning to go back to uni, I was really excited, I really loved my job, and I hate living on Centrelink.”
Ben is now in Year 7. His older sister Emily* is in Year 9 in a mainstream school.
Do you have a story? Contact reporter Rebecca Masters at rmasters@nine.com.au
Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, has a large and thriving homeschooling community, which Sarah says makes it easy to keep Ben engaged socially and provides various extra-curricular experiences.
There are regular meet-ups with other families as well as one-off workshops and excursions that the parents organise together.
“There’s a lot of sharing of skills, particularly a lot of the groups have like varying ages, so you get a lot of the older kids teaching the younger kids stuff and following different kids’ interests.
“There’s a couple of kids in this group who are really into military history, so we all get a crash course in military history while they play war games.”
Sarah and Ben also regularly visit local environment centres and catch the train to Brisbane to see exhibits at the Queensland Museum.
Unlike Sarah, Kelepouris hasn’t found a strong homeschooling community in Mackay.
For her and Lizzie, days are filled with English and maths, but also games, cooking, gardening and trips to the beach and she’s already noticed improvements in Lizzie’s behaviour.
For Lizzie and Geni, homeschooling sometimes means cooking, gardening, or a trip to the beach to collect rocks. Geni Kelepouris
But opportunities for socialising with other kids and sharing resources have been limited so Kelepouris plans to help Lizzie transition back into school when she’s ready.
“I’m just hoping she’ll get over all the schoolwork, she’ll be missing the social side of things and her brain will mature.
“You’d rather your kids having a social life, and you’d rather have a break, you know?”
Brown said about 30 per cent of homeschooled children reintegrate into mainstream schooling.
“At the end of the day, education of the child, whatever’s best for the child, is our main goal,” Brown said.
“If a child needs to have some time out of school for a while, and get some extra support, I think that’s an absolute win for the child.
“If they decide they want to go back into school, that they’re really well-equipped and they feel confident to do that, that’s success, cause that’s what’s right for them.
“It’s really important that even though this may not have been a journey that they’ve chosen for their family, that they understand it’s not the end of the road for education, it’s not a second-best option, it’s a different option.”
The Queensland Department of Education told nine.com.au in a statement that “all Queensland state schools are committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for students with disability”.
“Additional resources are provided for students with disability to ensure schools are funded and equipped to support students with all disability types.
“The department employees a range of specialist staff to support neurodivergent students both inside and outside the classroom. These staff include therapists, advisory visiting teachers, principal advisors for autism and state school registered nurses.
“The department is also investing in practical training to help upskill teachers to confidently manage diverse classrooms and support individual learning needs.”
*Names have been changed.
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