Legal/Homeschool Laws
Laws that regulate home education vary from state to state. It is important to understand the legal requirements in your state and to be aware of legislative and other legal issues that affect homeschoolers in your community. We've compiled resources that will help you become informed. Although homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, and the vast majority of homeschoolers face no problems, you may find that you need legal assistance at some point in your homeschooling career. We've compiled a list of resources to help you find the support you need. And if you'd like to become more involved in working towards homeschooling freedoms, we discuss some of the issues facing homeschoolers that we hope you find compelling.
State Laws
Read the laws regulating home education in Georgia and browse through the case law and legal opinions relating to those laws, along with government publications relating to homeschooling and summaries of the laws.
Forms
Which forms do you need to fill out? Where can you get them? Here is a list of useful forms for homeschooling in Georgia.
Legal Support
If you need legal information or have run into a legal situation regarding your decision to homeschool, these resources will be helpful.
Lobbying Groups
A listing of local and national lobbying groups and information on how you can become involved in the political process to ensure the freedom to homeschool is protected.
Attorneys
When searching for an attorney, it is helpful to know whether he or she has experience working with homeschoolers and is interested in protecting the right to homeschool.
Legal Issues
Is homeschooling legal? Which laws pertain to homeschoolers and which don't? How do homeschoolers protect their rights to freely educate their children and to preserve their privacy?
Government Resources
A listing of local and state government resources, including your state's Department of Education, school districts, and Senate and House of Representative information.
What's Popular
Home School Frequently Asked Questions
This list of FAQ is a summary of the law provided by the Georgia Department of Education.
Homeschool Attorneys in Georgia
These attorneys have indicated that they are willing to provide legal information, consult with or represent homeschoolers on homeschooling or other legal issues they may have in their states. Most of these attorneys homeschool or have homeschooled their own children.
Georgia Homeschool Law and Commentary
A summary of the homeschooling laws in Georgia provided by GeorgiaHomeschool.com, along with comments.
Awarding Units of Credit and Acceptance of Transfer Credit and/or Grades
This is a copy of the law regarding transferring credits furnished by the Georgia Department of Education.
HEIR's Initial Statement to the Committee
The Home Education Information Resource provided the House Education Committee with a three ring binder of "resource materials" that may be of interest. A summary of the binder's content has been provided to each Committee member, along with a copy of this prepared statement.
20-2-701. Reporting of Failure to Comply.
(a) Local school superintendents as applied to private schools and home study programs or visiting teachers and attendance officers as applied to public schools, after written notice to the parent or guardian of a child, shall report to the juvenile or other court having jurisdiction under Chapter 11 of Title 15 any child who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program in violation of this subpart. If the judge of the court places such child in a home or in a public or priv...
Declaration of Intent Letter
Your DOI with the 36 unique characters on the parental signature line is the official document of the Georgia Home Study Program. This document should be used to obtain Driver's license/permits, work permits, post-secondary admission, military enlistment, and for all other entities that require proof of educational enrollment. This letter can be accessed here.
New Driver's Law Affects Home Study Programs
Two distinctly different sections of the Georgia code recently collided in an effort to link compulsory school attendance with driving privileges. Home study parents began receiving conflicting information from their counties last year. Fulton County sent out information which included an attendance form and instructions which assumed that the parent was the homestudy supervisor responsible for signing the attendance form and having it notarized. Dekalb County sent already filled out and notariz...
Certificate of Attendance
Georgia Department of Public Safety Certificate of Attendance form, for use in submission to a License Examination Facility.
Home Study Program Declaration of Intent
This online form can be filed electronically with the Georgia Department of Education.
Roemhild v. Georgia (251 Ga. 569, 308 S.E.2d 154 (Ga. 1983))
This case concerns the constitutionality of OCGA 20-2-690 (Code Ann. 32-2104), the Georgia compulsory school attendance law, which provides that every parent having control of a child between the ages of seven and sixteen shall enroll the child in and send the child to a public or private school. The appellants, Terry and Vickie Roemhild, are the parents of three school-age children. In late September of 1981 they were arrested for violating the compulsory attendance law by allegedly failing to ...
Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program - pdf format
This is a Georgia Department of Education form. This form is in pdf format. Provided by HEIR.
20-2-690. Requirements for Homeschooling Parents
(a) This subpart recognizes the existence of public schools, private schools, and home study programs as educational entities.
(b) As used in this subpart, the term "private school" means an institution meeting the following criteria or requirements:
(1) The primary purpose of the institution is to provide education or, if the primary purpose of the institution is religious in nature, the institution shall provide the basic academic educational program specified in paragraph (4) of this...
Attorney General Interprets Homeschool Law
In 1986, the Georgia Attorney General issued an opinion stating that local superintendents could "request" that homeschoolers provide documents related to their home study program, but had no legal basis to "require" the production of those documents.
Declaration of Intent and Attendance Forms
Home Education Information Resource explains the use of forms when complying with Georgia state laws regulating home education. You will also find links to downloadable forms, including a Declaration of Intent and Attendance Forms.
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Featured Resources
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Montessori International
Montessori International is the magazine for all parents and teachers. Montessori International magazine is a high quality colour education magazine with a Montessori focus and a truly child-centred approach. The magazine is for Montessori parents, n...
Easy Grammar Systems
Easy Grammar Systems publishes the Easy Grammar and Daily Grams teaching texts for use through high school. Students use a “hands on” approach (deleting/marking) and learn correct usage and why that usage is appropriate. Review and using information ...
When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy for Today
Children want to learn and one of the best approaches to homeschooling is to meet their natural curiosity with support and understanding. Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy does just that. This book offers explanations of how to incorporate Mas...
A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling
In 1991, shortly after receiving both the New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year Awards, John Gatto resigned to begin a new career as an education reform advocate. In this collection of 16 essays, Gatto analyzes the problems of American...
Classical Education & The Home School
Classical education is an idea whose time has come again. When parents see the failures of modern education, they look for better solutions and classical education is one that has been tested in the past and found to be good. For the Christian home e...