Home Schooling Your Teenager about Driving
By Mimi Rothschild
As your home schooled child enters teenage years, learning to drive will be one of the top priorities in your home schooling plan. While the requirements of achieving a driver’s license vary from state to state, most states call for your teenager to take a driver education course. Education courses for new drivers should include book study as well as driving exercises.
As a home school parent, you can facilitate their learning to drive by spending time with your teenager behind the wheel as part of your home schooling agenda. Your own instruction, coupled with driver’s education, will result in the development of safe driving skills and will have a constructive impact on the way your teenager drives.
As a home schooling parent, you have determined yourself as a role model for your teenager. It goes back to that “monkey see, monkey do” reasoning. Your teenager has spent years watching you drive, picking up on your good and bad driving behaviors.
Learning to drive a car takes practice, no matter what age, and that practice should be supervised by a licensed driver—it’s the law. By driving with your teenager and reinforcing a positive experience, your teenager will be a safer driver.
Ways that you can make your teenager’s driving experiences with you as part of your home schooling a confidence building and encouraging experience include:
Plan the route that you will take on your trip before you begin driving. Discuss hazards, road conditions and landmarks to help your teenager’s home schooled driving practice be as informative.
Allow your teenager time to get to know your car before driving. Have them adjust the steering wheel, seat, and mirrors to their needs.
Begin with a short drive and progressively increase their time driving as they gain confidence and experience.
Give lessons when the vehicle is stopped—this will allow your teenager to be home schooled on driving and concentrate on your words instead of getting flustered or not paying enough attention to their driving and thusly creating further hazards.
Allow your teenager to drive in varying settings, including weather, times of the day and different types of roadways.
Be patient and stay calm.
Reinforce the good points of your teenager’s driving and discuss any hazards or issues after the drive is over. Driving can be integrated into your home school agenda in many ways, look for opportunities to have your home schooled teenager drive and gain positive experience.