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Georgia

• Compulsory Attendance Ages: Between 6th and 16th birthdays. (§20-2-690.1)

• If a child is under 7 and has attended more than 20 days in a public school, he is subject to the compulsory attendance laws. (§ 20-2-150(c))

• Required Days of Instruction: 180 days. (§20-2-690(c)(5))

• Required Subjects: A basic academic educational program that includes, but is not  limited to: reading, language arts, math, social studies, & science. (§20-2-690(c)(4))

• Teacher Qualifications: The "teaching parent" must have at least a high school diploma or a GED diploma. Or the parents may employ a private tutor who has a high school diploma or a GED equivalency diploma. (§ 20-2-690(c)(3))

• Standardized Tests: Children must take a national standardized achievement test every three years beginning at the end of the third grade. "Test scores are not required to be submitted to public school authorities." §20-2-690(c)(7))

• 1. Parent or guardian must annually submit to the superintendent of the local school district a Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program by September 1 or within 30 days after a program is established. The local school superintendent will provide a form upon request for this purpose to be returned to that office.

• 2. The declaration must include the names and ages of the students, the address where the program is located, and the dates of the school year.

• 3. Parents or guardians may teach only their own children in the home study program provided the teaching parent or guardian possesses at least a high school diploma or  a general educational development (GED) equivalency diploma, but the parents or guardians may employ a tutor who holds at least a high school diploma or a general education diploma to teach such children.
• 4. The home study program must include, but is not limited to, instruction in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
• 5. The school year must include the equivalent of 180 days of at least 4-1/2 hours of  instruction per day unless the child is physically unable to comply with this requirement.
• 6. Monthly attendance reports must be sent to the local superintendent at the end of each month. The local school superintendent will, upon request, provide the reporting forms.
• 7. Students in home study programs shall be subject to an appropriate nationally standardized testing program administered in consultation with a person trained in the administration and interpretation of norm referenced tests. The student must be evaluated at least every three years beginning at the end of the third grade. Records of such tests shall be retained.
• 8. The instructor shall write an annual progress assessment report in each required  subject area for each student. These reports shall be retained for at least three       years.

Reference: Click Here

Georgia State High School Graduation Requirements:

  • English units 4. Must include at least .5 unit American literature/composition.

  • Math units:

    • College Prep: 4, incl. Algebra I + II and geometry. Geometry course must be Euclidian Geometry or Informal Geometry. Fourth course must be Statistics or listed in the College Preparatory Mathematics or Advanced Mathematics categories of the state high school math course catalog in Rule 16-4-2-.03.

    • Tech/Career Prep: 3, incl. Algebra I. Must include Algebra I or an equivalent.

  • Social studies units: 3. 1 unit U.S. history, 1 unit world studies (i.e., world history or world geography

    • College Prep students must complete 1 unit world history), .5 or .33 unit citizenship education (government), and .5 or .33 unit Principles of Economics/Business/Free Enterprise.

  • Science units: 3.  

    • College Prep: Must include "a physical science, a life science, and one additional science course.

    • Students earning the Technology-Career-preparatory (TC) or Technology/Career-preparatory with Distinction (TC+) seal shall meet the requirements for the College Preparatory (CP) or College Preparatory with Distinction (CP+) seal or shall pass any three units of science including one physical science, one life science or two units of applied biology/chemistry." All must be lab-based.

  • P.E./Health units: 1. 1 unit "Health and Physical Education."

  • Arts:  1 unit Computer Technology and/or Fine Arts and/or Technology/Career preparatory and/or Foreign Language.

  • Foreign language:

    • College Prep: 2 units of the same language;

    • Tech/Career Prep: 0. In addition, all students must complete 1 unit chosen from Computer Technology and/or Fine Arts and/or Technology/Career preparatory and/or Foreign Language.

  • Electives units:

    • College Prep: 4.

    • Tech/Career Prep: 3. May be either locally required or elective units.

  • Other units:

    • College Prep: 0;

    • Tech/Career Prep: 4 units Technology/Career-preparatory units from core Technology/Career-preparatory courses.

 TOTAL # units: 22

Technical notes and citations:  These requirements refer to the College Preparatory and Technology/Career-Preparatory diploma option. Georgia does not have a "standard" diploma but four options: College Preparatory, College Preparatory with Distinction, Technology/Career-Preparatory, and Technology/Career Preparatory with Distinction. A student may earn a College Prep and Technology/Career-prep seal on the diploma by completing the requirements for each seal. "Only elective course credit or no course credit may be awarded for courses in which instruction is based on the QCC [Quality Core Curriculum, state standards] for grades K-8." A local board may request a waiver from the state superintendent to award students in an alternative high school units "based on demonstrated competency on course examination(s)."

GA. CODE ANN. § 20-2-142, 20-2-151.1; GA. COMP. R. & REGS. r. 160-4-2-.47, 160-4-8-.12

Important Note: State Graduation requirements are not necessarily the best guideline for homeschoolers to use. They have been included here as a guideline for what a typical public school student would need to complete in order to graduate.

A more important guideline may be the College Entrance requirements for where your student would like to attend college. While colleges have differing requirements, there are many colleges that publish requirements for homeschool graduates.



Related Pages:
Homeschool Support Groups in Georgia
Colleges in Georgia