Any Georgia homeschoolers?

[surrogate]

My oldest will be 5 next month and I am in need of guidance.

I work from home (daycare) and my oldest is PDD-Nos (autism spectrum) while most people wouldn't even notice, the problems he has the worst time with (i believe) would keep him from doing well in school.

I did not enroll him in Pre-K this year.  Right now we don't do much, but he knows his colors, shapes, we are working on letters and handwriting (he has trouble holding instruments) and I got him some puzzles for christmas to help with hand eye coordination.

I have read the Ga school site, and it seems like homeschoolers still have to do the standardized tests (which I dont agree with)

Can someone help me with info about homeschooling in ga?

I live in a REALLY rural farming area in south GA.  I know of one other homeschooling family and they use a co-op that I cannot join because you HAVE to agree to their religious things and attend their church.  We are NOT religious.  I also do not know anyone who homeschools.  Most people here use school as free daycare.  So their is noone for me to do playgroups or co-ops with., I also do not have any friends.  Oh yeah, and I am a single mom.

I feel like the cards are stacked against me.  

I was going to post in my tribe, but there is noone remotely close to me there.  I have posted there before.

Thanks!

[elus0814]

We're moving to warner robins in a few months so I'm interested to hear the replies. 

[LauraN]

I don't homeschool in Georgia, but my parents live there, so I have researched the topic in the past.

This is a great site that has all the information you need: http://www.heir.org/. Check the section on how to homeschool legally in Georgia.

My understanding is that you do have to administer the standardized tests every three years, but the results do not need to be presented to anybody. What this means is that you give your child the test, then file it away. Nobody will care how they did on it. You may need to show at some point that they took the test, but you won't have to give the results to anyone. So with that in mind, I would simply have my kids take it, but not put any pressure or importance on how well they do, you know?

Do you live anywhere near Atlanta? There are many homeschool groups (many religious, but several secular ones as well) in Atlanta and the counties north of it (my parents live in Cumming). There is even one fairly active unschool/relaxed homeschool group.

Good luck!

[surrogate]

Thank you so much laura!

Sadly I live at the FL line, so 4ish hours from Atlanta.  I just moved out of Atlanta in June...and I am trying trying trying to get back...but it wont be happening anytime soon if it does happen :(

Gonna check out that site :)
 

Originally Posted by LauraN 

I don't homeschool in Georgia, but my parents live there, so I have researched the topic in the past.

This is a great site that has all the information you need: http://www.heir.org/. Check the section on how to homeschool legally in Georgia.

My understanding is that you do have to administer the standardized tests every three years, but the results do not need to be presented to anybody. What this means is that you give your child the test, then file it away. Nobody will care how they did on it. You may need to show at some point that they took the test, but you won't have to give the results to anyone. So with that in mind, I would simply have my kids take it, but not put any pressure or importance on how well they do, you know?

Do you live anywhere near Atlanta? There are many homeschool groups (many religious, but several secular ones as well) in Atlanta and the counties north of it (my parents live in Cumming). There is even one fairly active unschool/relaxed homeschool group.

Good luck!

[LauraN]

Oh! In that case, check out homeschool groups in North Florida! Quite a few of those, too. I lived in FL before we moved clear across the globe :) and the requirements for homeschooling are much better there--any chance of living in FL? There, you can join an "umbrella school" and the requirement is only quarterly attendance reports. Even if you don't join an umbrella school and go the straight homeschooling route, you can choose either standardized tests or an annual evaluation.

The best thing to do, even if you can't make it to homeschool activities, is to talk to some homeschool group near you--they'll be able to give you specifics about how to handle the requirements...

[marimara]

I'm homeschooling K in Valdosta.  I'll PM you.

[surrogate]

Oh yay!  Thanks!

[marimara]

Man, I had a whole shpeal typed up and it disappeared!

Oh well, here's take two.

Homeschoolers in GA. If your child is 6 or older you must file an intent to homeschool with your local school.  Standardized testing begins at the end of grade 3.  Then once every 3 years.  They don't care about the results.  There are a few small rules (hs at least 180 days a year, etc.) but there are a lot of homeschoolers in GA, the rules are not that hard to comply by.  For anyone else, check yahoo groups, there are lots of homeschooling groups around even in rural areas.

[Suzannah]

I run a cottage school (HoneyFern.org - named after a cat in The Warriors series!!), and two of my students use the Georgia Cyber Academy curriculum, which is free online. I am not in love with GCA, but it might be a good thing to start with.  Because it is a public school, they offer all the testing, but because it is a public school they offer all of the emphasis on testing. 

I wouldn't register as a homeschooler until the last minute (6).  You need to keep attendance with your local school board, but they will generally supply a form. Homeschooling in GA is very, very easy. 

[pigpokey]

Compulsory education in Georgia is from the sixth birthday. However I tried to file a DOI (Declaration of Intent) on my younger child this academic year he is turning 6 and the county kicked it back and said they want it my academic year that he is 6 on Sept. 1. Your county may be different. But you have a while. Filing the HEIR DOI form early won't hurt anything. If you get to next year without finding a community, maybe Georgia Cyber Academy for one year might be an idea. The K curriculum is apparently not too burdensome and you might meet some secular "at home" schoolers, and if it doesn't work you can always withdraw after you get the directory (LOL). Georgia does not do the CRCT testing on the K kids so GCA for the K year is not going to subject him to standardized testing. If you go the home schooling route, you can administer any nationally normed test and not until 3rd grade and then every 3rd year. It's not the CRCTs. It can be the Iowa test or the California Acheivement Test or something else. Also Georgia does not tell you when 3rd grade is. So let's say because he's on the spectrum you might assign him (in your mind, for legal compliance reasons) a grade lower than his age grade for "social" reasons. That means you have 5 more academic years before you need to administer any type of test.

[surrogate]

Thanks ladies!

[jimw1101]

Look up "Georgia Cyber Academy".  My daughter home schools 2 kids (grades 1 & 3) in North GA and GCA seems to be working out well for them.