Abby Lee Miller is taking the credit for the success and growing popularity of her 11-year-old dance student, Maddie Ziegler. The Dance Moms star recently said that she believes she was "instrumental" in Ziegler's worldwide success and she was also the reason why Ziegler and her family decided to homeschool the rising star, just so she can take advantage of all the opportunities that are now knocking on her door.

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Speaking to Australia's Today Show on Monday, both Miller and Zielger opened up about the show along with Ziegler's rigorous dance schedule at Miller's dance school.

"Maddie has a gift. I was instrumental in her homeschooling because of her opportunities," Miller said. "We're in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and we have a strict 30 days so if you miss, you fail. She would never be able to take advantage of these opportunities. The Sia video would have never happened if she was doing traditional school."

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Ziegler also added that despite her hectic schedule, she doesn't mind waking up early in the mornings to practice and so far hasn't had a problem transitioning from a traditional school to homeschooling.

"For regular dance I usually start at one or two hours of training a day because I'm home schooled," Ziegler explained. "I go in earlier because I take privates and I finish around 9 am every morning. And I love it too, that's one of the reasons why I decided to go homeschool."

Miller also dismissed the claims that she is humiliating her young stars on her show, saying that she doesn't believe she's embarrassing any of her students on national television.

"If kids wants to be in show business, it's a tough business to be in," Miller said. "So it's better that I'm hard on them at our studio in a confined space where it's safe and we love them and we want the best for them."

Dance Moms Season 4 debuts tonight at 9 p.m. EST/PST on the Lifetime Network.