Homeschooling in Georgia

Your local school system must have proof that a withdrawn child is enrolled in a home study program within 45 days of the withdrawal from a Georgia public school. The Declaration of Intent you file with the Department of Education is that proof, and it is due no later than 30 days after the program begins.

Georgia law sets no separate withdrawal letter. Tell the school in writing that your child is withdrawing for home study and the date; a copy of the filed declaration answers any question about where your child went.

Filing the declaration

• Online through the Department's Declaration of Intent page, which offers a printed or emailed copy
• On the printable form, in blue or black ink, by email to homeschool@doe.k12.ga.us, by fax, or by mail to the Department's Homeschool Division in Atlanta
• Again by September 1 each year your child stays in home study

Keep a copy with the 36-character parent signature. Before you go, ask the school for copies of report cards, test scores, and any special education evaluations.

Georgia law requires the two records described above, the yearly progress reports and the test scores, and the parent keeps both. Nothing is turned in, and the law does not give the state or district a right to inspect them.

A few other records save time later:

• A copy of each year's Declaration of Intent and its confirmation number
• A high school transcript listing each course with its grade and credit, for a return to public school, dual enrollment, and college applications
• Course descriptions and the main materials used, which a school system reviews when it validates credit

Georgia requires an appropriate nationally standardized test at least every three years, starting at the end of third grade, which means a test at the end of grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 at a minimum. The test is meant to evaluate your child's progress. There is no passing score, and the results stay with you.

Tests come up in a few other places:

• End-of-course tests: required for some high school credit on return, described below.
• Dual enrollment: a 10th grader needs an SAT score of 1200 or an ACT composite of 26 to take academic college courses.
• HOPE Scholarship: a student completing an unaccredited home study program qualifies by SAT or ACT score, explained under college.
• Georgia Promise Scholarship: a home study recipient takes an approved norm-referenced test or a statewide assessment every year.

Every school district must find and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, homeschooled children included (34 CFR 300.111). Georgia's child find rule names children who live in the district and are enrolled in home study programs. To start, ask the local school system where you live, in writing, for an evaluation. Once you give consent, the system has 60 calendar days to finish it, not counting summer vacation or breaks of five or more school days.

Georgia's State Board of Education rule says children who are home schooled within a school system's area are considered parentally placed private school students. That gives them equitable services: the system consults with private school and home study families on how it spends its share of federal special education money, and an eligible child who is selected receives a written services plan. That is narrower than the full individualized education program (IEP) an enrolled student receives.

Georgia's graduation requirements and its state diploma apply to public schools. In a home study program, you set the course of study, decide when high school is complete, and issue the diploma and transcript. Once your child is registered through the declaration, you have the legal authority to sign any document required to show enrollment, full-time or part-time status, grades, or other educational information.

A home study graduate's record is two documents: the diploma and a transcript listing each course by year with its grade and credit. A student who wants a state credential can earn a high school equivalency diploma through the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG).

Driver's licenses and work permits

A homeschooled teen applying for a learner permit, a driver's license, or a youth work permit needs a copy of the current Declaration of Intent with the 36-character parent signature.

Georgia's HOPE Scholarship is open to home study graduates, and how a student qualifies depends on whether the program was accredited by one of the agencies the Georgia Student Finance Commission lists.

• Accredited home study program: graduate with a calculated HOPE grade point average of 3.0 and at least four rigor credits from the state's course list, like public school graduates.
• Unaccredited home study program: score at least 1160 on the SAT or 24 on the ACT in a single national administration before completing home study, and submit the state's request form.
• Either way: a student who misses initial eligibility can earn HOPE later with a 3.0 college grade point average after 30 semester hours.

Georgia's Dual Enrollment program is open to students in an eligible home study program, and it pays tuition, mandatory fees, and required books for approved courses, up to 30 semester hours. The parent creates a home study program account on GAfutures, approves the courses each term, and the student must be admitted by the college. Juniors and seniors may take any approved course; 10th graders are limited to career and technical courses at a technical college unless they have the qualifying SAT or ACT score.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Georgia

The Dexter Mosely Act lets home study students in grades 6 through 12 take part in extracurricular and interscholastic activities, sports included, in their resident public school system. The law attaches notice and course enrollment conditions, which the resident school system administers, and a current Declaration of Intent shows your child is in home study.

The Department of Education does not oversee athletics. Questions about eligibility, tryouts, and paperwork go to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and the local school system.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Georgia

Georgia has no state income tax credit or deduction for homeschool costs.

The Georgia Promise Scholarship can pay for home study. For 2026-27 it provides up to $6,500 per student, in four quarterly payments, for approved expenses such as curriculum, textbooks, tutoring, and therapies. A student qualifies only by attending a Georgia public school for the two consecutive semesters before applying, or by entering kindergarten, while living in the attendance zone of a public school in the lowest-performing 25 percent; the parent must have lived in Georgia for at least a year. A child who is already homeschooled does not qualify on that basis. Recipients take an approved test each spring and upload the results by June 30.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Georgia

A child can enroll in a Georgia public school at any time. The local school system decides grade placement and which home study courses earn units of credit, under State Board of Education Rule 160-5-1-.15 and its own policy. Each board must have a policy for validating credit from home study programs, and it must use at least one of two methods: a probationary placement followed by satisfactory work for one or more grading periods, or assessments the system gives for placement, subject, and grade level.

End-of-course assessments add a rule for high school. A student returning from home study with credit in a course that has a Georgia end-of-course assessment must pass it with a grade conversion score of at least 70 to receive the credit, and gets one attempt. If the student does not pass and the course is required for a diploma, the student takes the course.

The Department of Education shares each Declaration of Intent with your local school system, which relies on it as proof of home study enrollment after a withdrawal.

Knowingly filing a declaration with false or misleading information may be a crime under Georgia law. The test results and progress reports stay with you; Georgia law gives no agency a schedule for reviewing them.