Enjoy and Bless

Today I’d like to wade a bit into the legal side of schooling. I am no legal expert but as a follower of Jesus I of course want to respect and follow the laws of the government where I live. Our family lives in the United States of America in the state of Georgia. This works in our favor as an unschooling family because our national law is silent on education and our state law is only moderately regulated. 

America is called the Land of Liberty, and I have definitely grown in my appreciation of the liberties we enjoy as we begin this journey into unschooling. Our national constitution does not require children to attend public school and it does not forbid education at home. Currently, all 50 states do require that children within a certain age range must receive an education, and fortunately our national constitution protects a parent’s right to choose to educate at home.

Homeschooling (or educating your children at home) is legal in all 50 states; however, the specific rules around homeschooling differ from state to state. Some states are very open-handed with zero required documentation – parents are trusted to educate their children. Other states have minimal requirements such as submitting a declaration of intent to homeschool, while more restrictive states require keeping a record of attendance, progress reports, and annual standardized tests. 

So is unschooling legal in the United States? Families who unschool are following the path of self-directed education – they are providing their children with an education. I’m sure there could be situations where a parent says they are unschooling when really the children are not being given opportunities to pursue learning, but if you’re here reading about unschooling as an alternative to traditional schooling, I’m going to guess you provide resources and experiences that provide plenty of opportunities to learn and receive an education. 

In my last episode, I described three distinctives of unschooling. So let’s see how these map onto the homeschooling laws of Georgia. 

The first unschooling distinctive: no prescribed content. Georgia law does require that students be instructed in five subjects: reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. The instructor is required to write an annual progress report on how each student is progressing in each of these areas. The law does not prescribe exactly what must be covered in these subjects nor the means of covering them. So, for example, instruction in math can include a child’s interest in baking or budgeting or playing board games. Children are also required to participate in standardized testing every three years, but these scores are not submitted to the state and there is no minimum score required to continue your home study program. 

The second unschooling distinctive: no prescribed hours. Georgia law does require “instruction for a period of time equal to 180 school days…each school day consisting of at least four and one-half school hours.” I think many unschoolers find this requirement amusing because we view all of life as an opportunity to be “instructed.” If my daughter spends the morning reading a book or building a fort, the early afternoon drawing or creating origami, late afternoon watching a documentary, and the evening playing a problem-solving video game, how many hours of instruction does that equal? I never worry that my children aren’t spending enough hours learning!

The third unschooling distinctive: I don’t view myself as their teacher or instructor but more of a guide or curator. Georgia law requires the parent, guardian, or hired tutor to have a high school diploma or GED. So from a legal perspective, I do serve as their “instructor,” but the law does not require me to instruct in a specific way. So I am free to instruct through resources, experiences, guidance, etc. rather than lecture or worksheets. And I am free to not use tests or grades (other than the required standardized testing every three years.)

So overall, I find myself grateful to be living in Georgia where we are mostly free to educate our children as we feel is best. In order to follow the law of the land, the three things I do that I would not do on my own are writing annual progress reports on how each of my children have engaged in the five required subject areas, completing standardized testing every three years, and submitting a declaration of intent to homeschool. 

You may find that you also need to make a few adjustments or use some out of the box thinking to fit an unschooling lifestyle into the laws of your state but from what I  understand, unschooling principles can be applied legally in most if not all of the United States. 

This episode has gotten a bit dry and long for what I’m intending with this podcast but hopefully it may set your mind at ease about whether or not this approach is even legally a possibility for your family! Thanks for bearing with me, and I’ll be back soon with hopefully a bit of a lighter topic next time! 

You can learn more about the specific homeschooling laws in your state here: