Jeanne in MN Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 We are in MN. Driver's ed. next summer is $275. There are on-line courses in MN for only $100. Anyone ever taught this at home? Pros? Cons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 What does this involve for you Americans? Here, nearly everyone studies for their learner permit at home. Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 What does this involve for you Americans? Here, nearly everyone studies for their learner permit at home. Rosie The same is true here. And you can learn to drive under the instruction of anyone with a valid driver's license and then take the test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grover Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Yup, same here too - the last great torture for parents is teaching their kids to drive. :auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home_s_Cool Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Pros we saved the $500 it costs to attend a driving school we completed the required 40 hours of logged driving situations (even though the DMV never looked at the log to verify it!!) we are more confident in her driving since we did it Cons - the only thing is those who pay for the driving school can take the driving test 4 months after getting their permits. Those who were parent-taught must wait 6 months. For us that was not a strong enough reason to pay so much $$ for driving school so she could get her license 2 months earlier! We will do the same for our other 3 dc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquilt Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I was taught at home by my dad-best driving instruction ever! That will be our plan, most likely I will be the primary teacher. Funny story, though. I tested for my permit and license in one state, lived there for a year driving everywhere, then moved to a different state before I turned 18. The new state didn't care that I'd been licensed to drive for over a year, they wouldn't let me even test for my license without paying for drivers Ed or waiting until I was 18. I didn't want to wait 9 months to get my license back ( and I was going off to college as a 17 year old) so my parents found a drivers Ed teacher who would let me do the classroom part for a discount and certify that I had my required hours behind the wheel. I drove myself to drivers Ed class every night for a month! Guess I was very well trained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 We are in Virginia. My kids do the $100 online portion and dh does the in car portion. Pros: Saves us time and money, dh gets to do some actual teaching of something and feels like he is part of our homeschool, the child repeatedly gets to drive places that he would need to drive in real life, Dh gets in some face time with the older kids. Cons: sometimes dh's nerves are shot, dh is slow to move on to more difficult highway driving and mom has to intervene on child's behalf (see: dh's nerves are shot). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 We did it at home. used this http://www.usdrivertraining.com/index.php?page=main4 from hanging out on various forums, I learned not all states in the US have the same laws about permits. Some of them (I think Maine?) require a part 1 of a classroom experience in an approved driving school before the state will issue a permit! Then they have to take the rest of the class. surprised me. Other states - driver's ed is not even "required". -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 No, we're in MI and the instruction must be from an approved school. There are two parts required, and the first one must be completed so that you can get the magical "green form" to get a permit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Ds is finishing up driver's ed at home. He's doing an online course that complies with the requirements of Joshua's Law here in GA. Dh is doing the driving part. The online course covers the basics but ds says some of the directives don't make sense. (I can't remember specifics right now and he's not here to ask.) We all just roll our eyes then discuss and press on. Another con is that it requires the student to spend X minutes on each part. Even though ds isn't the fastest reader even he gets through the sections in much less time than "required." So he has to leave the window open and move his mouse a couple times so the course "thinks" he's still active. Another con is with driving portion; some of the requirements are a bit silly. Two hours of three point turns? But since he had to have his permit a year before he could road test we did eventually manage to get through it all. One of the pros for us is that ds is getting a ton of hours driving. We knew when he was ready for the next thing. He's more comfortable driving with us so he'll react more naturally--like letting his temper go. I think he would control it more with some other instructor, but maybe not when he's driving alone. By being his primary instructors we've seen how he reacts to different situations and been able to talk him through them. He's made a lot of improvement in controlling himself in spite of the knuckle-headed things some drivers do. ;) I might not have done the driving portion on my own, but dh took it on himself and didn't let ds drive with me until he felt ds was ready. Overall it has gone well for us. And if ds's nerves don't get to him we'll have a newly licensed driver today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphabetika Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I wish we could but in CA the law requires 30 hours (I think that's the number) of "classroom" instruction, whether that's online or in an actual classroom, and you must present proof of that to get your permit. So, we're stuck. My dd took the class through AAA, but really she could have learned everything through studying the test booklet and driving with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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