Georgia's home study law sits in the middle of the regulatory spectrum: an annual declaration filed with the state, five named subjects, a 180-day school year of four-and-a-half-hour days, a high school diploma requirement for the teaching parent, and periodic standardized testing. What makes it manageable is that nearly everything stays at home. The progress reports and test scores are retained by the family, not submitted, and no official ever grades the program. The parent administering the home study program decides when it is complete and issues the diploma, and Georgia's HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships both have named paths for home study graduates.
Legal framework
Home study programs are governed by O.C.G.A. 20-2-690(c). Parents or guardians may teach only their own children, and the teaching parent must hold at least a high school diploma or a state-approved high school equivalency diploma; the statute also permits hiring a tutor who meets the same standard. Instruction must cover, but is not limited to, reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, and the program must provide instruction each 12 months equivalent to 180 school days, each of at least four and one-half school hours, unless the child is physically unable to comply. Compliance matters: violating the section is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $100. Since 2012 the filing runs to the Georgia Department of Education rather than the local superintendent.
Notification & registration
The Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program is due within 30 days of establishing the program and by September 1 in each following year. It states the names and ages of the students, the address where the program is conducted, the local school system of residence, and the 12-month period the family designates as its school year. The Georgia Home Education Association recommends filing through the Department of Education's online portal and saving the emailed confirmation with its code, because agencies such as the Department of Driver Services ask to see it when a home study student applies for a learner's permit. A child's first declaration is generally due the year the child turns six on or before September 1.
Recordkeeping
Three records carry the program. First, the parent writes an annual progress assessment report covering each required subject area and keeps it for at least three years. Second, students take a nationally standardized test at least every three years beginning at the end of third grade; the scores are likewise retained by the parent and do not have to be submitted to any authority. Third, sensible families keep the filed declarations and their confirmation codes. Georgia repealed the old monthly attendance form years ago, so no attendance reports are sent anywhere. For the high school years, fold the annual reports into a running transcript, since that is the document colleges and scholarship programs will eventually ask for.
Graduation requirements
Georgia sets no credit or course list for completing a home study program; the parent administering it determines when the student has graduated, and the September 1 declaration simply stops being filed once the program ends. Many families align the transcript with the college-preparatory pattern Georgia's public universities expect, English, mathematics, science, social studies, and world language, both for admissions readability and because a dated graduation is what downstream programs key on: the HOPE test-score path described below, for example, turns on scores earned before the date the parent assigns as graduation.
Who issues the diploma
The parent administering the home study program issues the diploma in the name of the family's program and signs it as administrator. The Department of Education does not issue diplomas to home study students or certify completion; the declaration confirmations are compliance records, not credentials, so the parent-issued diploma and transcript are the documents the student carries forward.
College & military recognition
Georgia's flagship aid programs name home study students directly. A graduate of a home study program can qualify for the HOPE Scholarship as an entering freshman by scoring at or above the 75th percentile on a single national administration of the SAT or ACT, currently at least 1160 SAT or 24 ACT, taken before the student's assigned graduation date. A student without the score can still earn HOPE retroactively by posting a 3.0 GPA after attempting 30 college semester hours. The Zell Miller Scholarship works the same way at a higher bar: roughly 1340 SAT or 29 ACT as an entering freshman, or a 3.3 GPA after 30 hours for the retroactive route.
Georgia public colleges and University System of Georgia institutions admit home study graduates routinely, typically on the parent-issued transcript, the diploma, and SAT or ACT scores, and the saved declaration confirmations document that the program was properly filed if anyone asks. Homeschool graduates qualify for Tier 1 military enlistment when they present a diploma and transcript.
Official source
For current statutory text, forms, and procedural updates, the authoritative source is the Georgia Department of Education - Home Schools. Homeschool laws change, so confirm specific requirements directly with the state before relying on them.
Georgia homeschool organizations
State agencies publish the rules, but they rarely help you interpret them. For that, Georgia homeschool families generally turn to Georgia Home Education Association (GHEA), the statewide homeschool association. Groups like this one track legislative changes, run conventions and support-group networks, and answer the practical questions that statutes leave open. We are not affiliated with them and receive nothing for the mention; they are simply the most useful next stop after the state's own guidance.