Seeking Advice on Parent Taught, State Approved Drivers Ed for Teenager

Most of my friends use Driver's Ed in a Box. I know nothing about it except the title. :) They all seem to like it and think it has been fairly easy.

I believe you can go to the state website and download the information. I think the cost is around $50 or so. My 16 year old daughter wanted us to do that because it was cheaper (most of it was coming out of her pocket), but I was more comfortable sending her to a professional that can teach her the classroom and driving instructions. It really eased my mind.

We plan to send our daughter to a specific driving school (we have not yet narrowed it down).

It seems to make more sense to us to make sure she gets the full sense of importance, etc.

One reason we are adamant on driving school........a friend did parent taught. Good parents/good teachers, very smart all honors daughter. HOWEVER, their daughter was T-boned at an intersection because she turned in front of a car.

Thank God she was ok. When questioned by the police she said...."I had a green light". Somehow it did not connect in her brain when she was driving with mom/dad that a green light also means yield sometimes.

Her parents felt so guilty becauase they were afraid they missed something. I understand the schools are worth the money and very thorough.

I'm scared of this step as well....YIKES

We are using Virtual Drive of Texas. We really like it so far.

I looked at several and decided to give it up and go to Sears Driving School. It was a little more expensive, but it was the best investment I could have made. It was much easier on her and on me (and, I'm sure, the only car we had at the time.) If you do decide to go with the at-home method, enlist your daughter's help in finding a good one, she'll feel like she is part of the process (and it's never too early to start teaching them to find out things for themselves.) Good luck!

I got the texas based program for $20.00 and it worked fine. You just need to make the time to drive and follow the form and log your hours. It's great if you have the time to put into it.

My son is doing the written part online and then I will do the rest. I wanted someone else to teach him the book part of it. He took his written test last week and did well. We are now logging the driving part of it. It was better for us this way, because his time is tied up with work and afterschool stuff, I did not know when he could ever go to Driving school.

You can send for the Texas DPS packet from their own web site. It is soooo much cheaper. It includes the paperwork and booklet. We went this route with three of our four kids so far.

The link is here: ftp://ftp.txdps.state.tx.us/forms/dl-92.pdf

Driver Ed in a Box (www.driveredinabox.com)...was $250 when I taught both of my children, now 19 and 16 1/2, with this program and am very satisfied with it and the way they drive. It was DVD based learning for both parent (as the teacher) and student along with driving lessons broken down by skill, it is installed on a computer and the students are tested. We started it as soon as the children recieved their driving permits (this program will walk you through getting a permit with instructions). Driver Ed in a Box is accepted by Texas (and many other states), a Certificate is issued at the end to present to the DMV, my children did not even have to take a driving test to get their drivers licenses (but keep a good driving log, the DMV has the right to ask for it). I feel that my children received a better driving education with me over 6-12 months, than in a local 6 week course. I am not affliated with Driver Ed in a Box in any way. Good Luck.

We also did the DPS kit and it was cheaper. We did the driving with our son and he studied the book. We did not buy any DVD's or unnecessary books. I think we even shared with others. As long as she studies the book and logs her hours of driving, she should be fine. There is always Sears driving school but, it isn't as cheap and it takes time to do it. If prefer not teaching her yourself that is probably the way to go. When my daughter did her drivers training, we had not choice but to pay for Sears (or other outside source) but, that was also 10 years ago.

My son, who turns 16 next month did lots of research and we ended up using www.idrivesafely.com. It's all online and he got through it no problem. It was only $25 or $30. He got his permit almost a year ago and everything went just fine. Good luck.

Mardel sells a parent-taught driver's ed kit. I don't know anything else about it except it's sold in the homeschool department.

The best one is from Colorado. I can't remeber the name but you can google it and find it. It requires more hours behind the wheel then some but I liked that one. Also they can do the stuff on-line as well.

B.

We used National Driver Training Institute - it was all online and gave us all the info we needed to know to help our son become a good driver. The website is www.nationaldrivertraining.com.

I just went through this at home with my daughter. I wanted to do it with her since I needed the peace of mind that she knew what she was doing in my cars. It was good for her. depends on the child what program to do. My son will go through a program somewhere else not with me! He needs it :-)

You can go to the dps website and click on general information and then it will direct you to a different page and you can click on DL-92 Request form. You can send that it in with $20 and they will send you the packet. There are no CD's that go with it. After you get the packet, you can go online and type in course 101 in the search engine and print out the modules. It is very easy and a lot cheaper than sending them to a driver's ed class. Good luck!

My husband and I have completed two parent taught drivers ed courses. We went to the Texas Department of Public Safety and got their program. It is pretty much an all inclusive program that cost $25.00. It is good and easy on your budget.

We are doing the same thing and we didn't purchase any of those. We just contacted the state for the parent taught drivers ed packet and paid the fee and they send all the necessary paperwork to you as well as the book and you go from there. Just go to the TX DPS website and it explains everything to you. Good luck!

We are using Texasteendriversed.com for our 15-year old daughter and many of her friends are as well for $149.00. She can log in and out at her discretion and then we practice in my car for no more than 30 mins. at a time. She seems to like it and it gives a quiz at the end of each segment. If she just read the book I don't think it would sink in as well.