Comments on Barbara Frank: Getting an Education in Driver's Ed

Don't worry, Rebecca. We ended up taking turns sit...

2008-06-22T14:38:29.216-07:00

Don't worry, Rebecca. We ended up taking turns sitting outside in the car waiting for her, and we both agreed it was nice to have some quiet time alone for catching on reading....and one time, napping :)

Barbara -- I'm really enjoying your blog! We don'...

2008-06-20T15:44:22.350-07:00

Barbara -- I'm really enjoying your blog! We don't have drivers' ed here, but I do remember the class when I was in highschool. Ack. Actually, the only real reason I would want my kids to take the class would be to save $$ on insurance. But, there's no insurance here either! ;^)

The only requirement for driving where we live is that you must be able to see out the windshield while pressing the gas. Scarey. Needless to say our personal requirements are a little more stringent! Dd is studying the handbook for our state of residence so that when we get back on our next furlough she can take the test and get her license. By then she'll be almost 17 and will have about two years' experience under her belt. Ds (age 13), on the other hand, isn't even allowed to get IN the car without supervision. He tends to operate on "auto-pilot" a lot and behind the wheel is not a place to be when your brain is disengaged! :^)

As far as a night class for your daughter, I think it's worth the time sacrifice for you or your hubby to be there for her. I don't tend to be paranoid, but having young girls waiting for rides night after night in the same place seems like just a really bad idea. It's only a few weeks. In the larger scheme of things, it's a very small sacrifice.

I guess your daughter is getting a chance to "shine like stars"!!! ;^)

Bendiciones!

Brumbemom, my dd has not been in the hurry to get ...

2008-06-03T19:12:58.943-07:00

Brumbemom, my dd has not been in the hurry to get her license that her older siblings were in, and I'm grateful. We've been fortunate that they've been safe drivers. Glad your dd isn't in a hurry.

Melissa, that's because she's a girl. They're always afraid they're missing out socially. My girls were the same way, but over time, they learned that you can have fun with friends and yet still enjoy your solitude.

Janet, there may be "home school driver's ed" in some places, but not in our old state nor our new one :(

That's horrible! I remember my driver's ed class b...

2008-06-02T21:35:20.084-07:00

That's horrible! I remember my driver's ed class being the same. Just stupid. Is there "home school driver's ed?" LOL!

LOL...I wonder if they would take an eight year ol...

2008-05-30T18:12:17.479-07:00

LOL...I wonder if they would take an eight year old:) Jack is very happy homeschooling. Katrina has a bit of the grass is greener on the other side syndrome. She wants to see more people more regularly....driving me crazy!

Barb, Now that I got that other stuff out of the w...

2008-05-30T16:39:34.253-07:00

Barb, Now that I got that other stuff out of the way, I wanted to comment on your post. The thought of my oldest DD, 17, driving alone scares me to death. She hasn't really wanted to pursue getting her Driver's license yet(she has her learner's permit) and I am thankful for that. I think she needs to mature a lot before I would want her on the roads by herself. I wish the age limit was 18 myself. It seems like everyday we hear about teens being killed in accidents. I think Driver's Ed would be a good idea. It is not required her unless you are under 17.
Talk to you later :-)

Hey Barb, After reading your comment on my blog,I ...

2008-05-30T16:35:12.069-07:00

Hey Barb, After reading your comment on my blog,I wanted to respond. I posted this on my comments, but I wasn't sure you would get back over there and read it so I am posting it here too.
Barb, Bless you for saying those nice things, but I think I may have given you the wrong impression. When I said that "we have a certain reputation when it comes to parties" I was pretty much trying to be funny. I guess I shouldn't write things like that knowing that people that don't really know us might read it and wonder what I mean. We only throw parties for kids to begin with and usually there is a lot of, how should I say it, really gross games. My husband says it isn't a party until someone throws up ;-)
That is what I meant by that statement. I hope I didn't in any way imply that we threw wild parties of any other kind. Thank you for your kind words, and I just wanted to make sure it was clear to you what I meant by that.
Thanks for your support on my blog!

Susan, I'm glad you've found a good teacher! I com...

2008-05-30T14:30:35.963-07:00

Susan, I'm glad you've found a good teacher! I completely understand about spending time and money for someone who knows what they're doing. I drove an hour each way to my kids' pediatrician for years because he was just so good.

Barbaralee, our eldest didn't get her license until 17, nor will this dd. Our son got his at 16 because I was tired of driving him to work all the time, dragging along the little ones, etc. I think the older they are, the better they handle it, though.

This is a scary though. Those are the same kids t...

2008-05-30T08:00:39.088-07:00

This is a scary though. Those are the same kids that get behind a wheel of a #weight machine. Can you image if the act like that in the classroom how they will act behind the wheel. We have our kids wait until they are 17. Insurance is costly as much as gas. I might have to make the exception for dd. She wants to take voc. tech class when she's 16. To much driving back and forth.

I know my kids act silly once in awhile but not to the point of distrubing the others. DD was in a bible study this year and she was always commenting about the girls who were talking all the time. Go figure.

Oh, Barbara, you are making me SO thankful for Mr ...

2008-05-30T07:17:21.182-07:00

Oh, Barbara, you are making me SO thankful for Mr Fischer! He teaches in Milton, Janesville, and Elkhorn.

My kids, like yours, saw in drivers ed how the public-school kids behave in a classroom setting. And like your kids, my kids appreciated the homeschooling more then.

But Mr Fischer doesn't put up with guff. He starts on time. He has high standards. He knows how to inject humor into the classroom, but never let it detract from the main purpose of why they're there, and he never lets the occasional jokes cause the class to run amok.

I too have been having to sit there and wait. We're driving an hour each way to drivers ed, and it's a two-hour class. It met 3x weekly for five weeks. But even with high gas prices, even with class taking 4.5 hours per evening, this instructor is so so good that it's worth it. I was beginning to think I'd made a poor decision about not enrolling Andrew in the local drivers ed. But your post reminded me of what I've heard from almost every other homeschool mom about the drivers-ed experience. We were so blessed to have the teacher for our kids that we had!