Homeschooling in Georgia

Yes, you can do this here. Georgia requires one declaration each year and gives parents broad control over instruction.

If you are wondering whether homeschooling really works where you live, the answer in Georgia is yes. Here is what Georgia asks of a family and how each piece gets handled.

One filing a year, and no approval to wait for

Georgia calls what you are doing a home study program, and the law that governs it is O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690(c). You file a Declaration of Intent with the Georgia Department of Education, and the Department provides a copy to your local school system. You do not file with your superintendent. That changed in 2012, and a good deal of advice still circulating says otherwise.

The Georgia Department of Education describes its routine administrative role as collecting and maintaining Declarations of Intent. It does not review or approve your curriculum, and the declaration is a filing rather than an application for permission.

You may teach your own children, and you must be a parent or legal guardian to file. The teaching parent or guardian must hold at least a high school diploma or a state-approved high school equivalency diploma, and you may employ a tutor who holds one.

Compulsory attendance in Georgia runs between a child’s sixth and sixteenth birthdays, and it does not apply once the student has completed the requirements for a high school diploma. O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690.1.

An additional rule applies to younger children. Once a child has been enrolled in a Georgia public school for twenty school days or more before the child’s seventh birthday, the child becomes subject to the compulsory-attendance provisions even before age seven. O.C.G.A. § 20-2-150(c).

• A Declaration of Intent filed with the Georgia Department of Education

• The names and ages of enrolled students, the address of your program, your local school system, and the twelve-month period you are counting as your school year

• A high school diploma or state-approved high school equivalency diploma for the teaching parent and for any tutor you employ

• Instruction in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science

• The equivalent of one hundred eighty school days each twelve months, each day consisting of at least four and one-half school hours, unless the child is physically unable to comply

• A nationally standardized test at least every three years beginning at the end of third grade, administered in consultation with someone trained in norm-referenced testing

• Test records and scores retained, though not required to be submitted to public educational authorities

• An individualized annual progress assessment written by the home study instructor for each student, covering all five required subjects, and kept at least three years

• Gather these before you sit down to file

• Keep your own documentation

• Hundreds of courses across all five required subjects

• Custom Schedule Builder for planning the year, and Applecore Record Keeping for documenting completed days

• You choose and arrange a qualifying test. Georgia requires it to be administered in consultation with a person trained in the administration and interpretation of norm-referenced tests. SchoolhouseTeachers.com does not supply or administer the test

• Portfolio Builder

• Schoolhouse Gradebook and Applecore Record Keeping provide grades and records that can inform the home study instructor’s assessment

Your Georgia year

Within thirty days, then every September 1. File your Declaration of Intent within thirty days after you establish your home study program, and by September 1 each year after that. The Georgia Home Education Association notes that families with high schoolers keep filing past age sixteen until the student finishes the program.

Save the confirmation number. When you file online, GaDOE generates a unique thirty-six-character parent signature that serves as your confirmation number. Print or save your completed Declaration of Intent before leaving the page. GaDOE identifies that confirmation as the official home study record used for a driver’s license or permit, work permit, and other educational documents.

If your child is enrolled somewhere now. GHEA advises withdrawing your child from the current school before filing the Declaration of Intent. File promptly, save the completed declaration, and give the former school a copy so the withdrawal is documented. Under current Georgia State Board of Education Rule 160-5-1-.28, a school must refer the matter to DFCS and the RESA student affairs officer when a student has not attended for thirty consecutive days and one listed condition applies, including withdrawal without a Declaration of Intent filed.

Starting midway through a year. Georgia law requires the declaration to name a twelve-month school year but does not spell out how to calculate the one hundred eighty days when a child begins homeschooling midway through that period. GHEA advises using the date the child began at the previous school as the beginning of the twelve-month period and counting the instructional days completed there. Confirm that calculation with GHEA or the Georgia Department of Education before relying on prior-school days.

Every three years, beginning at the end of third grade. Arrange a qualifying nationally standardized test and the required consultation with a person trained in administering and interpreting norm-referenced tests. Keep the test records and scores in your own files. They are not required to be submitted to public educational authorities.

Once each year. The home study instructor writes an individualized progress assessment for each student covering all five required subjects. Keep each report for at least three years.

What comes with one membership

The Curriculum Lane. Hundreds of courses for preschool through twelfth grade, written from a Biblical worldview. Interactive iST courses, Virtual School Boxes, World Book Online, and thousands of family-friendly videos. Georgia names five required subjects and leaves the rest to you, so you build the year that fits each child.

The Records Lane. The Homeschool Records & Compliance Center, with the Education Plan Builder, Custom Schedule Builder, Portfolio Builder, Applecore Record Keeping, Schoolhouse Gradebook, and more, including Certificates of Completion for every course, and transcript templates and tools that members use to prepare their own transcripts.

One membership covers every child in your house. No fee per child. No fee per course.

Questions? Call 1.888.718.HOME or email customerservice@theoldschoolhouse.com. A real homeschooler answers.