by Selena Robinson

Created on: September 29, 2009   Last Updated: October 03, 2009

If you're a Georgia resident and you're interested in homeschooling your children, you're living in one of the most home school-friendly states in the country! The state of Georgia exercises very loose oversight over homeschooling families and allows for great flexibility within state regulations. Here is a brief overview of homeschooling laws in the state of Georgia:

The following rules are adapted from the Georgia Department of Education's website (http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/askdoe.aspx?PageReq=ASKHome ).

1. Every year, you must submit a form called a "Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program". This form has to be submitted within 30 days of when you begin homeschooling. So, if you have children who are currently in public school and you decide to begin homeschooling them in January, you must submit your declaration of intent within 30 days of withdrawing them. You must then resubmit the declaration form every September 1 thereafter. You can print a copy of the form from the Department of Education website. Be sure to include your students' names and ages, your home address and the dates of your school year (allow yourself 365 days; for example, September 1 - August 31). If your child is younger than the legally required age to enroll in school, do NOT send in your form until your child reaches the minimum age. Compulsory attendance ages in Georgia are "between 6th and 16th birthdays". (http://www.ghea.org/pages/resources/stateLaw.php)

2. You can only teach your own children and you (or your spouse, if he or she will be teaching) must possess at least a GED (general equivalently diploma) or a high school diploma.

3. Your curriculum must cover reading, language arts, math, social studies and science. You can choose how you would like to cover them (structured or non-structured) and you can add in any other subjects you like.

4. The school year must be 180 days long (each day consisting of at least 4 hours). If you're a homeschooling novice, you might worry about spending that much time daily, but don't panic! Remember that your school year allows for 365 days (see rule #1), so you can easily cover your lessons by lowering the number of hours per day and increasing the number of days. As long as you cover 810 hours of lessons a year (180 x 4.5), you will be in compliance with the law. And, of course, you can always have school for longer than 4 hours a day if your child wants!

5. At the end of every month, you must send in a monthly attendance report.

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