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Even worse,
only 55.6% of Georgia high school students graduate,
compared to 70.2% for the national average. There is plenty
of room for improvement for K-12 public education in
Georgia.
With the poor
quality of Georgia public schools, homeschooling has become
a popular alternative. Hopefully, the same legislators
responsible for public school failures will allow
homeschoolers to continue teaching their kids the way they
see fit.
Like most other
states, Georgia requires all children ages 6-16 to attend
school and all homeschool parents are required to file a
notice of intent to their local school superintendent.
However, while other states require not much more than that,
Georgia laws intrude into many areas that other states leave
alone. Georgia statute 20-2-690 adds the following
stipulations:
-
children
must have 180 days of instruction each year
-
the average
school day must be 4.5 hours
-
attendance
records must be submitted each month to the school
superintendent
-
parents
must write an annual progress report for each child and
retain it for 3 years
-
all
children must study reading, language arts, math, social
studies, and science
-
all parent
teachers must possess at least a high school diploma or GED
-
parents may
only teach their own children but they may employ a
tutor to teach their children as long as the tutor has
at least a high school diploma or GED
-
all
homeschool students are required to take national
standardized tests every three years beginning in the
3rd grade and test results must be kept
While
homeschool laws in Georgia are more demanding than many
other states, Georgia parents still enjoy the benefits that
motivated them to homeschool in the first place, such as
giving their children a better education while enjoying the
freedom to choose their own curriculum materials. |
