Georgia asks for one form a year and nothing else. But that form quietly becomes your family's master credential: it is what proves enrollment for driver permits, work permits, and college applications.
Verified against primary sources August 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
What Georgia requires, in short
File a Declaration of Intent with the state education department by September 1 each year. Teach 180 days at 4.5 hours, covering five subject areas, and track that yourself. Test with a nationally standardized test every three years starting at the end of grade 3, and write an annual progress report for each subject that you keep for three years. Only the Declaration is ever submitted.
Annual filingDeclaration of Intent, by September 1
Filed withThe state department of education, not your district
Records you must keepAnnual progress report (3 years), test results
TestingEvery 3 years, starting end of grade 3
Instruction180 days at 4.5 hours (tracked, never reported)
Compulsory ages6 to 16
What the law actually requires
File a Declaration of Intent every year by September 1
File within 30 days of starting a new program, and by September 1 each year after. It goes to the Georgia Department of Education (not your local district), through the state's online portal. You list each student's name and age, the program's address, your local school system, and the twelve-month period you are treating as your school year.
O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c)(1)-(2)
The teaching parent needs a high school diploma
The parent or guardian providing instruction (or a hired tutor) must hold at least a high school diploma or a state-approved equivalency. No college degree or teaching certificate is required.
O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c)(3)
Teach a basic academic program, 180 days at 4.5 hours
The program must include at least reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, and must provide instruction equivalent to 180 school days a year at a minimum of 4.5 hours per day, unless the child is physically unable. Nothing about this is reported: you track it, nobody collects it. Days already completed in a public or private school that year count toward the total.
O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c)(4)-(5)
Test every three years, starting at the end of grade 3
Students take a nationally standardized achievement test at least every three years beginning at the end of third grade, administered in consultation with someone trained in giving and interpreting norm-referenced tests. Georgia's own state tests do not satisfy this, since they are not nationally standardized. Results are kept, never submitted, and no score threshold or consequence attaches.
O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c)(7)
Write an annual progress report and keep it three years
Each year you write an assessment of your student's academic progress in each of the five required subject areas. Keep it for at least three years. This is the requirement families most often skip, and it is the one that would matter most if anyone ever questioned the program.
O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c)(8)
Your compliance calendar
By September 1 each year
File the Declaration of Intent with the state department of education. Within 30 days if you are starting mid-year.
Within 45 days of withdrawing from public school
The district must have proof of your home study enrollment, which is your filed Declaration.
All year
Track your 180 days at 4.5 hours against the school year you declared.
End of grades 3, 6, 9 (every three years)
Administer a nationally standardized test and file the results in your records.
End of each school year
Write the progress report covering all five subject areas. Keep three years.
Records to keep
Your filed Declaration of Intent. Keep every year's confirmation. This is the document that proves enrollment for driver permits, work permits, college applications, and military enlistment.
Annual progress reports. One per student per year covering all five subjects. Three-year retention is statutory; keeping them permanently costs nothing.
Standardized test records. Kept, never submitted. No retention period is set, so keep them.
Attendance and hours (practical). No statute requires a log, but you are attesting to 180 days at 4.5 hours. A simple calendar makes that honest.
Transcript and course descriptions (high school). Georgia gives you unusually strong authority to execute documents for your own program, and the state issues no diploma, so your transcript is the record. Note the HOPE scholarship's home-study path requires a 75th-percentile-or-better college admission test score.
No monthly attendance reports. That requirement was repealed and is no longer in the law.
No submission of test scores, progress reports, curriculum, or lesson plans to anyone.
No teaching credential or college degree.
No local school district approval or oversight. The Declaration goes to the state.
No portfolio, work samples, or evaluations by an outside reviewer.
No notarization on documents you sign for your own program.
Questions Georgia families ask
Do Georgia homeschoolers still file monthly attendance reports?
No. That requirement was repealed and is not in current law, though many guides still list it. You track your 180 days at 4.5 hours and report nothing.
Where does the Georgia Declaration of Intent go?
To the state department of education through its online portal, not to your local school district. Your district only needs proof of enrollment within 45 days if you withdrew a student from public school.
Can Georgia Milestones satisfy the homeschool testing requirement?
No. The requirement is a nationally standardized test, and the state assessments are not nationally normed. Use a nationally standardized achievement test administered in consultation with someone trained in giving and interpreting them.
Common myths about Georgia homeschool law, corrected
Not anymore. That requirement was removed from the law over a decade ago, though guides still repeat it. Today you track your days and report nothing.
You file your Declaration of Intent with your local school district.
It goes to the state department of education, through its online portal. Your district's only role is needing proof of enrollment within 45 days if you withdrew a student from public school.
Georgia Milestones or the state's end-of-course tests satisfy the testing requirement.
They do not: the requirement is a nationally standardized test, and the state's own assessments are not nationally normed.
The annual progress report has to be submitted somewhere.
You write it and keep it three years. Nobody collects it, which is exactly why so many families forget to write it at all.
A parent cannot sign official school paperwork for their own child.
Georgia law explicitly gives you authority to execute any document required to evidence enrollment, full or part-time status, grades, or other required educational information.
Recent and pending changes
No changes to the home study statute itself through August 2026.
The Georgia Promise Scholarship began in the 2025-26 school year and can be used for home study, but eligibility is narrow: it generally requires prior attendance at a public school on the state's bottom-performing list, so most existing homeschoolers do not qualify. Participants take on annual testing and program renewal deadlines.
Free tools for Georgia families
Transcript builder: Georgia gives parents explicit authority to execute enrollment and grade documents, and the state issues no diploma, so your transcript carries real legal weight.
GPA calculator: weighted and unweighted, computed the way colleges do it.
Reference information reviewed August 2026 against primary sources (statutes, NCAA and Common App published requirements). This is general information, not legal advice; requirements change, so verify anything load-bearing for your family against your state's current law.