Leaving a public or private school mid-year can be challenging, but many have done it before you. Below are the steps you must take to do this successfully.

Withdraw Your Child

You should first withdraw your child from the private or public school.  Do not file your Declaration of Intent (DOI) until you have withdrawn your child*. GHEA recommends obtaining a copy of your child’s school records from the school from which you are withdrawing him/her. Simply ask the school how you go about getting a copy of the school records.

*Updated info on withdrawing from public school: Public schools in Georgia are required to have proof that your child is transferring to a different school or being homeschooled.  The State Department of Education is mandated to provide your DOI to your local school system. But if the local school doesn't receive your DOI within 45 days of withdrawal, they are directed to refer the matter to the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services to conduct an assessment. In order to prevent that, GHEA recommends that you provide a copy of your DOI to the school on the day that you withdraw, or very shortly thereafter.

File a Declaration of Intent

Once you have withdrawn your child, you must file a Declaration of Intent (DOI) to homeschool with the Georgia Department of Education.  This can be done online at https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Pages/Home-Study-DOI.aspx

IMPORTANT:  When completing the DOI you will need to state the beginning and ending dates for your home study school year.  Use the date your child began school in his/her current school as your beginning date, and put the end date as 12 months later, minus 1 day. You are required to complete 180 school days within this 12-month period. These 180 days will include the days your child attended his/her current school and the days he/she has homeschooled.

Example: Your child started in the public school on August 10. You withdrew him/her from that school on September 4, and started your homeschool on September 7. On the Declaration of Intent, your beginning date for the school year would be August 10, and your ending date would be August 9 of the following year. Your child had completed 20 days of school in the public school, so he/she would need to complete at least 160 days of homeschool for the remainder of that school year.

Please see our Declaration of Intent page for more important information about filing this form, including the importance of making and keeping a copy with the 36-character parent signature code.