How do you teach someone to drive?

[Lucy the Valiant]

5 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I think I have seen it for $300 ish.  Is it more expensive around you?  I had always planned on my kids waiting at least 2 years to get it.  I just think kids need the extra time to mature before driving.  I hadn't factored in the money savings of not having to take drivers ed.

In my area, it's $900, + 40 hours driving practice (10 in the dark), and completely booked until Christmas within an hour's radius of my house. Not legal to get a license without driver's ed until 18yo.

 

[Sneezyone]

In our area it’s 400-ish and readily available for summer/winter babies. It’s the fall/spring ones that usually have to wait a few months b/c they want to train during summer vacay and fall/winter break. Advance planning/scheduling avoids this. Public schools do drivers ed for free so the cost for behind the wheel is lower. The driving test is also administered by their behind the wheel instructor so it’s a two-fer.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Sneezyone

[ScoutTN]

Yes, ours includes the test too. 
Sadly, Ds’ public charter school does not offer driver’s ed. 

[Sneezyone]

5 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

Yes, ours includes the test too. 
Sadly, Ds’ public charter school does not offer driver’s ed. 

Is there a public online option? Maybe not since it isn’t part of PE/Health as it is here.  🥺

Edited April 26, 2023 by Sneezyone

[ScoutTN]

1 minute ago, Sneezyone said:

Is there a public online option? Maybe not since it isn’t part of PE/Health as it is here.  🥺

Maybe? Idk.
Not a good plan for this particular child, though. He needs both in person and not-mom. So we do the class and Dh does the rest. The break on insurance is 25%.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

Maybe? Idk.
Not a good plan for this particular child, though. He needs both in person and not-mom. So we do the class and Dh does the rest. The break on insurance is 25%.

So you get a 25% off insurance if you take a drivers ed class?  What insurance do you have?  Is it for a year or more than that? 

Anyone in another state get that too or is it just TN?

[historically accurate]

Here in IL, anyone under 21 has to take driver's ed  (classroom & 6 hour long lessons - although kids drive only half - 1/3 of those behind-the-wheel lessons). The school does not give the driving test like others here say happens in their area. They fill out the permit paperwork during the third class. They're expected to have about 20 on-the-road lessons before starting the behind the wheel portion, but that's not enforced.

It's $450 in my area, and I've heard it can be hard to get classes; however, I've never had an issue getting my kids in. There is no insurance discount. Honestly, we keep our kids on permit only until they can afford their own insurance since permits don't raise our insurance, and licenses do. That means my 21 year old is just now getting her license. My 17 yo is expecting to get her license in the fall if her physical health holds (she has POTS and has fainted while sitting so she is not currently allowed to drive). 

[ScoutTN]

8 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

So you get a 25% off insurance if you take a drivers ed class?  What insurance do you have?  Is it for a year or more than that? 

Anyone in another state get that too or is it just TN?

State Farm. We get 25% off the cost of that kid’s insurance from the time he gets his license until… not sure. Ds is running a year behind on driving  and will just be getting a permit this summer; he’ll be 17 when he gets his license. We’ll keep him on our car insurance as long as he’s a student or til he’s 23.

[LuvToRead]

2 hours ago, historically accurate said:

Here in IL, anyone under 21 has to take driver's ed  (classroom & 6 hour long lessons - although kids drive only half - 1/3 of those behind-the-wheel lessons). The school does not give the driving test like others here say happens in their area. They fill out the permit paperwork during the third class. They're expected to have about 20 on-the-road lessons before starting the behind the wheel portion, but that's not enforced.

It's $450 in my area, and I've heard it can be hard to get classes; however, I've never had an issue getting my kids in. There is no insurance discount. Honestly, we keep our kids on permit only until they can afford their own insurance since permits don't raise our insurance, and licenses do. That means my 21 year old is just now getting her license. My 17 yo is expecting to get her license in the fall if her physical health holds (she has POTS and has fainted while sitting so she is not currently allowed to drive). 

I'm also in IL and our local school does give the driving test.  I guess this is dependent on the local school district/driving school.   You must have an "A" in the class in order to qualify to take the drivers test with the instructor.  Both of my DD's took the driving test at the school.  Also our school does 12 hours of on the road instruction.  They take 2 students out at a time, so each student gets 6 hours of driving time.

 Our insurance company has an online driver safety course you can take.  It provides a very modest discount. 

To answer the question of how:  Let someone else do it!  We started our girls early letting them drive on the farm and long driveways.   I managed to drive with my oldest on busy highways, but when it was time for my youngest Iet DH take over.  I did learn that if you put a student driver sticker in your back window people don't tail gate. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by LuvToRead

[Jaybee]

I don't do the initial teaching. I just don't have the nerves for it, tbh. Once the initial stages are covered (parking lot, country roads, etc.), and they are fairly comfortable on the road, I don't mind beginning some of the fine-tuning parts of it. For all except our oldest, once they were doing pretty well with what we could teach, we signed them up for a driving course which usually involved so many hours of classroom, and then six hours (2 hours on three different days) in the car with the instructor. That driving course fills in the gaps and maybe they tend to listen a little more to the instructor.

[ScoutTN]

The student driver sticker was definitely helpful! People did seem to ease up and be more patient.