Driver's Education for Homeschoolers

Just wanted to share...we got our Driver's Ed materials this week!! Casey is soooo excited about it. We did our first classroom lesson yesterday. The book seems so big and like it'd take forever to complete, but there are only 7 levels. They recommend at least 30 hours of coursework and 50 hours behind the wheel. Do you know that most public school driver's ed courses only require 6 hours of behind the wheel training? This is what the book says anyhow. If this is true, no wonder the statistics are so startling about teen accidents and deaths.
When I was in Driver's Ed in public school, the coach of the football team taught it. There were four of us in the vehicle all the time, (four students). Our time to drive was right before lunchtime, so we got to drive to McDonald's. I learned early on how to maneuver through a drive through. LOL Anyhow, Coach used to read the newspaper while we were driving!!! This almost got us in trouble once. A male student was driving one day, (Ronnie, very nervous guy, no common sense, no coordination, etc. you know the type), on a two lane highway, and he came up over a knoll and then it goes down this hill and around a big curve. There was roadwork and only one lane was open, and it wasn't OUR lane that was open. A flagman stood at the top of the knoll, in plain sight, and his sign said "STOP". Ronnie never let off the gas. He swerved just in time to keep from running over the flagman (and the flagman jumped back out of the way)...and proceeded to just go around the work in the opposite lane, with the rest of us yelling "Oh my gosh, watch out! What are you doing?? Coach! Look out!" and stuff like that. We were terrified. THANK GOD traffic was stopped at the other end! Coach got his newspaper down and took control just in time to make sure we didn't hit the stopped traffic head on or run over any road workers. It's very funny now, but it wasn't when I was in the back seat of that car. LOL At any rate.....can you IMAGINE, a driver's education instructor READING THE PAPER while young inexperienced driver's are driving?? I wonder now what he was on?? Hmpf....the joys of public school.
We're using National Driver Training Institute. I'm glad that WE are doing this, to ensure that we aren't turning our son out on the roads without throrough training. Our oldest, Randy, had his driver's license when he took Driver's Ed. They only offered it in 10th grade and he was held back a year before so he was already driving age then. Our insurance agent had not encountered any homeschoolers when I called to ask her if this certification would be accepted for a discount, and I told her that it looks like they'd EMBRACE homeschoolers who were taught by their parents because the parents actually CARE about the teens being taught...a public school instructor doesn't care about their welfare like we do. Our agent said do "go ahead and do the course, then we'll send in the certification and see if they accept it for a discount". I wasn't satisfied with that answer, so I called the company directly myself and found out that as long as it is certfied by someone certified to certify it (seriously, this is the terminology she used) and that the person certified signs the certification it will be accepted.
More important than the discount, of course, is the peace of mind of KNOWING that our children receive the proper training for THEIR safety, as well as the safety of other drivers on the road with them, and any passengers they might have. I feel like we're doing all we can do ensure that. :o)

Off to homeschool now! Have a great day, week, month.....who knows how long it will be before I get the chance to post again!!