The Christian Choate case -- extreme though it is -- shows how easy it is for a child to fall through the bureaucracy's cracks.
Indiana is one of 10 states with very few regulations for home-schooled students, according to the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. In fact, parents aren't even required to register with the state for home schooling, although they are encouraged to do so.
The state has a vested interest in seeing that each child receives a quality education, through whatever means that might be. A good education tends to lead to a good job, which means a person is less likely to require welfare or incarceration. And regular contact with adults outside the home -- which happens in public and private schools -- helps the authorities ascertain a child's well-being.
In Christian Choate's case, however, home schooling meant the boy had no reason to see adults outside the home regularly.
The allegations of abuse that surfaced after 13-year-old boy's body is believed to have been found May 4 in a shallow grave in Gary's Black Oak section. It is a story that easily causes nightmares. But it could be the wake-up call legislators need to make them reconsider the virtual lack of regulations regarding home schooling.
If all students -- even those taught at home -- had to report on a periodic basis for examinations or some other reason to school officials, the outcome of the Choate case might have been different. *pulled from nwi.com* this is not my writing only used for research only.