Homeschool Requirements in Georgia
Georgia asks for very little. Start with the first section: what you file, if anything, and the date it is due. The rest is short. Every claim here is cited at the foot of the page, so you can check it against the code rather than take our word for it.
What you file, and by when
Submit a Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program to the Georgia Department of Education (electronically, via the GaDOE portal - not to the local district) within 30 days of establishing the program, and annually thereafter by September 1. It must list the names and ages of the students, the address where the program is located, and the dates of the school year.
Days or hours
Instruction each 12 months equivalent to 180 school days, with each school day consisting of at least 4.5 school hours - unless the child’s education is impeded by physical or mental disability, or by an emergency.
Meeting those hours and turning them into credits are two different jobs. How to count a high school credit when you never used a textbook.
Subjects you must cover
Reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
Records you keep
Parents must maintain attendance records for the home study program and keep the annual written progress assessment reports for at least three years. Since 2016 (HB 739) monthly attendance reports are no longer submitted to the state - attendance records are kept at home only. Standardized test results are also retained, not submitted.
Testing or evaluation
Students must take a nationally standardized achievement test at least every three years beginning at the end of the third grade. Scores are retained by the parent and are not reported to the state or the local district. Separately, the teaching parent must write an annual progress assessment report evaluating the child’s progress in each required subject; also retained, not submitted.
What a test result or an evaluator gets attached to is the folder underneath the transcript. The Records Pack has the portfolio index with its evaluator summary as an editable form.
Diplomas and transcripts
Georgia does not issue diplomas, credits, or transcripts for home study students; the parent issues the diploma and transcript, and a parent-issued diploma is treated as valid for state purposes (including HOPE Scholarship eligibility, which has a specific homeschool pathway administered by GSFC requiring SAT/ACT scores and a transcript). The teaching parent must hold at least a high school diploma or a state-approved High School Equivalency (HSE) diploma; tutors employed must meet the same standard. There are no state-imposed graduation credit requirements. Note the Georgia Promise Scholarship (SB 233, 2024; first awards 2025-26) provides $6,500 accounts, but eligibility is tied to students zoned for low-performing schools and its interaction with a declared home study program is narrow - verify eligibility rules directly with the Georgia Education Savings Authority rather than assuming home study participation qualifies.
A diploma you signed yourself gets read against the transcript behind it. What a college actually does with a homeschool transcript.
Where this comes from
Statute: O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c) (home study program requirements); O.C.G.A. 20-2-690.1 (compulsory attendance, ages 6-16); O.C.G.A. 20-2-2110 et seq. (Georgia Promise Scholarship)
Last reviewed: July 2026. The day is not recorded.
Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes stale without saying so. Before a filing deadline, read the statute above for yourself. If we are behind, we would rather hear it from you than have you find out at the district office.
All fifty states and DC, each with its statute cited.
Filing is one half of it. Keeping the records is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already wired, 131 course descriptions, and this same statute-cited summary for all fifty states and DC. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you have.