The Short Answer
To withdraw your child from public school in Georgia, notify the school that you are withdrawing to a home study program, and file a Declaration of Intent with the superintendent of your local school system within 30 days of beginning home study. The teaching parent must hold at least a high school diploma or GED. Keep a copy of the declaration and your withdrawal notice. After that you provide instruction across 180 days and arrange an annual assessment, covered in the main guide. Compulsory age runs from 6 to 16. Confirm the current process at gadoe.org.
Verified June 2026 against the Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 20-2-690. Confirm the current Declaration of Intent process at gadoe.org before relying on this for legal decisions.
Georgia Withdrawal at a Glance
| Step 1: Notify the school | Tell the public school you are withdrawing to a home study program |
|---|---|
| Step 2: File the Declaration of Intent | With your local superintendent within 30 days of beginning |
| Step 3: Confirm the credential | The teaching parent holds at least a high school diploma or GED |
| Step 4: Keep records | Save the declaration and your withdrawal notice |
| After withdrawal | 180 days of instruction; annual assessment |
| Compulsory age | 6 to 16 |
How Withdrawal Works in Georgia
Georgia ties withdrawal to starting a home study program. You notify the public school that you are leaving, and you file a Declaration of Intent with the superintendent of your local school system within 30 days of beginning home study. There is no approval step; the declaration is a filing, not an application. The superintendent does not approve or deny it. Your obligation is to file it; the district's obligation is to receive it.
The legal basis is O.C.G.A. Section 20-2-690. It defines the home study program and sets out what families must do to operate one. The declaration is the action that establishes your home study program under Georgia law. The teaching parent must hold at least a high school diploma or GED. This is a firm prerequisite: if the teaching parent does not hold the diploma or GED, the program cannot lawfully begin.
Georgia's compulsory school age runs from 6 through 16. If your child is in that range and leaving public school, the Declaration of Intent is what places your child inside the home study exemption. A child who stops attending public school without a filed declaration remains on the public school rolls and counts as absent.
Step 1: Notify the Public School
Tell your child's public school, in writing, that you are withdrawing the child to a home study program. A short, dated note to the school office is enough. State your child's name, the effective date of withdrawal, and that you are establishing a home study program under Georgia law. This starts the attendance records change on the school's side and stops the child from being counted absent.
Keep a dated copy of this note. If the school sends a stray attendance notice after the withdrawal, your dated copy resolves it quickly. Delivering it by email gives you a timestamp automatically. Handing it to the front office and asking for acknowledgment works too.
Notifying the school and filing your Declaration of Intent are the two halves of the withdrawal, and doing them close together keeps the move clean. We cover the home study program in full, including the required subjects, the 4.5-hour daily and 180-day annual requirements, and the annual assessment options, in the Georgia homeschooling guide. Before you begin teaching, the free reading assessment gives you a concrete baseline of where your child stands right now.
Want to see what a structured plan looks like before you commit?
Two chapters, a curriculum breakdown, and a worksheet -- free.
See inside before you buy. Delivered by email.
Step 2: File the Declaration of Intent
File a Declaration of Intent with the superintendent of your local school system. The deadline is September 1 for the upcoming school year. Families starting mid-year must file within 30 days of beginning home study. The declaration includes the child's name and date of birth and a list of the subjects you intend to teach. The five required subjects in Georgia are reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
The 30-day window from the day you begin is the clock to respect. Put the date you start home study on a calendar and count forward 30 days. Send the declaration before that date. The cleanest approach is to file the declaration in the same week you notify the school, so there is no gap in enrollment status. Your child leaves the public school and enters the home study program without any period of being unaccounted for on paper.
Before you file, confirm that the teaching parent holds at least a high school diploma or GED. Georgia law requires this, and the declaration cannot be submitted without that qualification in place. A GED satisfies the requirement. Keep the dated declaration and any acknowledgment from the district together in your records.
Step 3: Mind the Timing and Keep Records
Keep both documents, your written withdrawal notice to the school and your Declaration of Intent, together in one folder. These prove that your child moved cleanly from public school to home study enrollment. Request any school records you want while you are at it: immunization records, report cards, transcripts. These are easier to collect during the withdrawal conversation than to track down afterward.
After the withdrawal, Georgia home study carries ongoing duties. You provide at least 4.5 hours of instruction per day across a minimum of 180 school days per year. You cover the five required subjects. You arrange an annual assessment using either a nationally normed standardized test or an evaluation by someone with at least a bachelor's degree who is not the teaching parent. You make results available to the superintendent upon request. All of this is covered in the Georgia homeschooling guide. Setting up a tracking log from day one makes the year-end reporting much easier. The Guide walks through building a teaching plan that covers Georgia's requirements from the start.
Choosing the right curriculum gets easier when you know what to teach, what to skip, and where to start.
Get the GuideA simple step-by-step plan for getting started.
Funding Note and Special Education
If you are exploring the Georgia Promise Scholarship, note that its eligibility is narrow and tied to leaving a low-performing public school. The scholarship, worth up to $6,500, applies only to students who have spent two consecutive semesters in a Georgia public school and are zoned to a bottom-25% performing school. Most existing home study families do not qualify, and the scholarship's rules are separate from the withdrawal steps described here. If funding is part of your decision, read our Georgia homeschool funding guide first, since timing around the scholarship's eligibility window can matter.
If your child has an Individualized Education Program, the special education services provided through the public school end when you withdraw to home study. Georgia districts may offer limited voluntary services to home study students with disabilities, but the mandatory public school IEP entitlement does not carry over. Contact the district's special education office before withdrawing if services are in place. Understanding what changes before the declaration is filed prevents complications that are harder to sort out after the program has started.
A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You
Georgia withdrawal is two steps with one clock: tell the school you are leaving, and file your Declaration of Intent with the local superintendent within 30 days of starting home study. We would do both within the same week and put the 30-day deadline on the calendar the day you begin, since that filing is what makes your home study official.
Confirm the teaching parent holds a high school diploma or GED before you file, because that is a real requirement under the statute. Keep your declaration confirmation and your withdrawal note together, grab your child's records, and our Georgia homeschooling guide covers the 180 days and the annual assessment that follow.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Withdraw My Child From Public School in Georgia?
Notify the public school in writing that you are withdrawing to a home study program, and file a Declaration of Intent with your local school superintendent within 30 days of beginning home study. No district approval is required.
When Is the Declaration of Intent Due?
By September 1 for the school year, or within 30 days of starting if you begin mid-year. The same window applies for a mid-year withdrawal.
Do I Need a Diploma to Withdraw and Homeschool in Georgia?
The teaching parent must hold at least a high school diploma or GED. Confirm this before filing the declaration.
Does the Georgia Promise Scholarship Change the Steps?
No, but its eligibility is narrow and tied to leaving a low-performing public school. If funding is part of your plan, read our Georgia homeschool funding guide first, since timing can matter.
What Happens to My Child's IEP?
Public school special education services end when you withdraw to home study. Districts may offer limited services, but the IEP entitlement does not carry over. Contact the special education office before withdrawing.