Who here has handled this hurdle?
How did you do it?

Christine

I have once, and I'm getting ready to start with it a second time. I decided to teach it myself and taught our son to drive when he was 16. Amazingly, we both survived! We first used a DVD course called "Rules of the Road". He also took a 4-hour on-line course required by our state. It can be taken in person, but the on-line version worked better for us. Then he had to log 50 hours of behind-the-wheel driving time (after getting his learner's permit) and 10 of those hours had to be at night. He had to have his permit for at least a year. Basically he became my chauffeur and drove us everywhere we went. We started off on an empty parking lot, then drove around our neighborhood, but once he got comfortable he just drove us where ever we were going. I made sure he had practice in all kinds of situations, on Interstate, driving in the rain, in a school zone, etc. We kept a log in the car and just wrote down every time he drove until he'd added up to 50 hours and one year of experience. Overall it was okay. Challenging, but a good experience. And now he's an excellent driver!

My oldest daughter will be getting her permit soon and we'll start the process all over again. The only thing I'll do differently with her is order a course that is approved by our insurance company. That will give her a discount off of her insurance until she's 21 years old. I thought my son was getting the discount since he does have a Driver's Ed credit on his transcript, but I found out later that it has to be their approved course (TeenSmart, or something like that).
Lori

Thanks Lori. How do you find out what courses are approved by insurance companies? Is that just for an insurance discount once you add them to your policy?
What's TeenSmart?
Thanks,
Christine

Christine,
You should check with your insurance agent to see what courses are approved, because every company has their own way of handling this. Yes, the approval is just so they get the driver's ed discount on their policy. I think that would apply whether we add them to our policy or they took out their own. We added our son to ours and he gets the good student discount but not the driver's ed one since he took a different course. Our daughter will take the approved course so she should get both discounts. I haven't asked specifically, though. It could be that they only get one discount but not both. I need to ask that, because if she's only going to get one or the other, and she already qualifies for the good student discount, it might not be worth taking their course. Anyway, every company is different, so you need to check with yours.
Lori

Lori, that's great to know. Thanks so much!
Christine