Homeschooling in Georgia: the law and how to start

Yes. Georgia law calls homeschooling a home study program and sets out its rules in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690(c). The program is overseen by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE), which receives each family's Declaration of Intent.

Parents or guardians may teach only their own children in a home study program. You can also employ a tutor to teach your children, subject to the statute's qualification rules for tutors.

Some families enroll in a private school or a full-time online public school instead. Those are different legal options: a public virtual school is public school, with its own testing and attendance rules, and is not a home study program.

• File a Declaration of Intent with GaDOE within 30 days of beginning your home study program. GaDOE accepts it online, by fax or by mail; the online system is the usual route.
• List each child you are teaching on the declaration, along with the other details the form asks for, such as the location of the program and the 12-month period you consider your school year.
• Withdraw from school. If your child is enrolled in public school, let the school know in writing that you are withdrawing to a home study program, and keep a copy of your filed declaration. Filing promptly helps avoid your child being counted as absent.
• Refile every year by September 1 for as long as you continue homeschooling.

Your program must include, but isn't limited to, reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and science. You choose the curriculum and materials.

Georgia sets instruction time: the equivalent of 180 school days, each with 4.5 hours of instruction, unless your child is physically unable to comply. You decide which 180 days and how to schedule them across your 12-month school year.

Keep your own attendance records showing that you meet the 180-day requirement.

• Standardized testing: your child must take an appropriate nationally standardized test at least every three years, starting at the end of grade 3. You keep the results; you do not send them to the school district or the state.
• Annual progress report: each year, the instructor writes a progress assessment in each required subject for each child. Keep these reports for at least three years.

Neither the test scores nor the progress reports are submitted, but keep them organized in case you need to show compliance, re-enroll your child in school, or apply for programs such as dual enrollment.

As the parent running a home study program, you decide when your teen has finished high school and can issue your own diploma and transcript. Keep course lists, credits and grades from grade 9 on.

Georgia's Dual Enrollment program, run by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), is open to students in an eligible home study program. Your program must have a Participation Agreement on file with GSFC, and home study students apply each term. The current guide says funding is for eligible students in grades 10–12, with caps on hours per term; each college sets its own admission rules.

Home study graduates can also qualify for Georgia's HOPE Scholarship, but the route depends on whether your program is accredited (for example, through test scores or HOPE earned after a year of college). Check GAfutures for the current rules.

The Dexter Mosely Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-319.6), passed in 2021, lets home study students in grades 6–12 take part in extracurricular and interscholastic activities at their resident public school if they meet its conditions. These include taking at least one qualifying course per semester facilitated by the resident school system (such as a dual credit course or an on-site course), giving written notice before the semester, and verifying academic progress.

Students who withdraw from public school to a home study program may face a waiting period before they can take part. Ask your school district for its notice form and deadlines. A 2026 bill (SB 369) proposed changes for virtual school students; check whether it became law before relying on it.

If you think your child has a disability, contact your local school district. Under the federal IDEA, districts must locate and evaluate children who may need special education, including homeschooled children.

The Georgia Promise Scholarship, launched for the 2025–26 school year, is an education savings account worth up to $6,500 per year (the amount cited for 2026–27). Funds can pay for qualified expenses such as private school tuition, curriculum, textbooks, tutoring and therapies, and can be used by students in a home study program.

Eligibility is narrow. Generally, your child must have been enrolled in a Georgia public school the prior year (or be entering kindergarten), and you must live in the attendance zone of a public school on the state's list of lower-performing schools. Families already homeschooling usually don't qualify. Participating students take an annual norm-referenced test in math and language arts.

Application windows and amounts change from year to year. Check the program site and GSFC's regulations before you apply.