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4 Tips Texas Homeschool Moms Need for New Teen Drivers

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

4 Tips Texas Homeschool Moms Need for New Teen Drivers. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(I know this is long, but I have too many details and too much experience to not share with you. Also, remember things can change through the years, but changes are slower when dealing with laws.)

When Mr. Senior 2013 started to drive, it wasn’t anything like I thought it would be. Oh, for sure the red tape that usually is associated with government offices was all I imagined it to be, but the way I thought my son would respond to driving was not what I thought it would be.

Now, that Mr. Awesome 2015 is learning to drive (although he held off a considerably longer time because we had moved to South America) I have learned a lot about driving.

Too, though you may not live in Texas, some of these things may apply to you and some of my tips may give you a heads up for asking the right questions in your area.

Besides, even from city to city in Texas, things are not the same. Also, not only do I want to share my personal experience, but I want to share some tips of teens who were in our homeschool group, some who are now on their own and even with families.

Look at my 4 tips Texas homeschool moms need for new teen drivers. Okay, I know many more are here than 4, but I don’t want to scare you, but arm you for this can do project.

Each teen is different.

You’re probably thinking, you’re not a kidding. But I promise, I am making a point here that I didn’t fully appreciate until later.

Looking at the teens in our group, a lot of them, like my kids, were homeschooled from the very beginning.

They had a different view of learning to drive and a good part of them just didn’t care if they learned to drive now or later.

Maybe it’s because they have been out in the world mingling for a good amount of time or maybe they viewed it as serious, but we had more teens who were pretty laid back than were waiting with bated breath to start driving.

Not all of the teens felt this way because some had a burning desire to get behind the wheel, but mostly our teens were pretty relaxed about when they got to driving.

The point I’m making is that unless you have a need, a teen can wait until he is even 17 and can still follow the teen track option.

Understand the difference between teen & adult driving options.

Another biggie to understand is that if you delay your teen driving, which is what happened in my case with Mr. Awesome 2015 is that he is now considered an adult. That doesn’t necessarily have negative advantages.

For example, with Mr. Senior 2013 I started off teaching him to drive and he did some work online. However, I was teaching the younger two boys and I had a driving school near me, so I took advantage of the convenience. (More on driving schools in a minute.)

With Mr. Awesome 2015, he is considered an adult and in a way it led to different options. I had more flexibility in some ways.

He didn’t have to take the mandatory classroom time that a teen has to take.

He was eligible to take the one day adult course training course and then apply for his license by doing the written test and driving test.

This doesn’t mean this is what we did because we are interested in him learning to be a safe driver and that comes only with behind the wheel time with another adult (me or his dad) in the car and/or a driving instructor too.

We had several other teens (especially girls) in our group do the same thing, which is to wait until they are considered adults in Texas. We all had the same thing to say about it, which is that it’s a great option too.

Understanding the differences too between a 15 year old and say a 19 year old, who now realizes the seriousness of getting behind the wheel makes teaching them easier.

Not quite as confident as they are when they are 15 years old and “know everything”, it’s actually a joy to teach an older child to drive.

I enjoyed teaching Mr. Senior 2013 driving at 16 years old too, but I am really loving it with Mr. Awesome 2015 who is older.

It’s important to understand the price package differences between a teen track and an adult track if you decide to delay driving.

Though it can be cheaper to teach an adult (in the eyes of the law) how to drive, it’s not necessarily so.

For example, if your teen has had plenty of driving experience around the farm, he may have a pretty good idea how to handle a vehicle.

Since we didn’t live on a farm, I am paying for Mr. Awesome 2015 to have behind the wheel instruction with an instructor. That is in addition to the adult class, which is classroom instruction only.

The beauty of this method is that I can pay as I go and then he can take the road test when he is ready and not wait the 6 months that an underage driver does when he gets a learning permit.

Ignorance Is Bliss! – I Only Wish

Comparing teen programs is a must do to get your moneys worth.

Look at these options to ask about or know about.

  1. What type of reviews does the driving school have? If we had looked at the reviews more carefully of one driving school I chose for Mr. Senior 2013, we would have known about the reputation of one of the instructors who owned a bar. (ugggg) Of course, I had to switch to a different driving school.
  2. How many driving instructors do they have? In other words, the classroom instruction is not hard to get, but when it comes time for your teen to get behind the wheel, is he or she fighting for the attention of 1 instructor or are there 3 or more? It makes a difference when it comes to scheduling drive times.
  3. Can the driving school give both the written part of the test and the driving test? I didn’t have this option with my first kid or should I say that the school was too far for us.
  4. In other cities, driving schools are approved by the DPS (department of public safety) to give the written test AND the road test when the time comes. That is a true help because having stood in line with Mr. Senior 2013 all day to do the written part of the test and then issue his permit, it was stressful. Driving schools where we live now can do the written test there and then you take your teen down to the DPS to stand in line for photo and finger prints only because he has already taken the written part of the test. So convenient! Did I mention taking the road test with a car your teen is use to driving at their driving school and with an instructor they know makes a huge difference. It keeps time dealing with the DPS down to very minimal, which is what you want.
  5. Does the school drop off your teen back at your house after driving practice? This made a huge difference to me when teaching Mr. Senior 2013 because we lived out a ways in the country. It was a nice convenience when I had the other kids to have the school drop him back off at the house. It may seem small, but it was a convenience that I appreciated that I don’t have now in the bigger are I am living in. The school here in the city won’t do that or so they say.

Those are just a few things to help you ask more about the school you may be thinking of.

A few more things to know.

  • There are two parts of the test basically, the written part and the road test.

The written part of the test can be taken by a teen about 3 days after getting classroom instruction.

They are ready to try for the learner’s permit. The written test comes in two parts. One part are road signs and the other questions are general questions like intersections, insurance and driving. They don’t have to do anything written after this. That is only time. After they complete time with you and the instruction, they are ready for the driving test (a.k.a road test) after 6 months.

This is one reason why I switched from online and went to the driving school because the online school we were doing didn’t help to slice between the information needed now to get the permit and the whole classroom instruction he needed to complete the driving school.

With the online driving school, it was like  Mr. Senior 2013 had to study everything before he could take the written test which is what is needed to get the permit. That is just our experience with our online school, they may not all be like that.

  • Read the paperwork.

Don’t go down to DPS asking them if they can take a copy of the birth certificate. When they say original, that is what it means.

But also, know the way around things.

For example, I didn’t use the birth certificate for either one of  my kids. I used the original  Social Security card  and a passport (current of course.)

  • Don’t sign the application until you get to DPS because the application says “don’t sign this part until you’re in front of the notary public or DPS”.

Don’t think DPS is going to highlight it in yellow for you the part where it says don’t sign until you are at the DPS office. You have to read with sharp eyes and ask questions about everything.

There is No Rush – Just Know Which Choice to Make

There are several more details to know, but this is a huge sweeping picture of how to get your teen on the road to driving.

Maybe when I get ready to do it the third time around, I may have it down.

Do you have any questions? Are you in the middle of this now? It’s an exciting time to have your kids driving.

That is all I get I all my grocery shopping done. (okay, okay)

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Also, check out my category How To Homeschool: A Teen to Graduation for more tips in teaching teens.

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Linking up @ these places:
Thoughtful Spot|Modest Monday|Homeschool Nook|Monday of Many Blessings|Good Morning Mondays|Mommy Monday|Inspire Me Monday|Practical Mondays|Tuesday Talk|Top-Notch Tuesday|

The Problem Choosing Between Homeschool Mom and Homeschool Teacher

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The Problem Choosing Between Homeschool Mom and Homeschool Teacher @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Do we really need to choose between homeschool mom or homeschool teacher? Do our kids benefit when we separate the two roles?

My first few years of homeschooling, I hardly recognized myself.

Sounding more like a drill sergeant when we started our day than a caring loving educator, whose first concern should be the emotional well-being of my children, something had to change.

I didn’t like myself and my kids for sure didn’t like me. Like any new or seasoned homeschool educator, I too was concerned that my kids wouldn’t learn how to develop study skills, self-motivation and an intrinsic love of learning. It’s flat out hard to find a balance. More on that in a minute.

Fast forward to now after graduating two of my sons, I learned that I didn’t need to separate the two roles.

Instead of using energy draining formal teacher tactics, my focus should have been on valuing the many future opportunities that I was going to have of bringing meaning to learning and naturally teaching my boys.

Unlocking the Natural Teacher Within You

Learning to unlock the natural teacher within you is more about appreciating that you shouldn’t choose between homeschool mom and homeschool teacher, but it’s a fuse of the two.

First, it’s important to remember when you homeschool that mom is your first calling.

When you have a child, you know the role of mom is important because the emotional stability, health, safety, personality, spiritual and educational well-being of your child is a serious responsibility.

What I am saying is that I learned educating my child was just another facet of motherhood and not something separate from it.

Furthermore, like me, you are probably the first person, who taught your baby his first word and he started to learn his mother tongue. All the pieces started to fall into place as I pondered what I had done right up to the age before “formal” schooling.

Realizing that I had to leave behind the public school mentality, I didn’t have to learn how to be a teacher. To successfully homeschool, I needed to learn how to be the best mother I could be.

That huge revelation brought homeschooling into something that not only could I achieve successfully, but to treasure, love passionately and stick to because it is as natural as mothering. 

When the switch flipped to a new thinking, my focus was on teaching my sons all those things I worried about like any other homeschool mom.

Letting Every Day Life Teach Meaningful Lessons

Energy could now be focused on identifying my son’s weakness.

For example, when I was teaching my sons to write, a homeschool room was a must-have for us. I didn’t have to be concerned with a seasoned homeschool mom tell me when I started homeschooling that I would never use a homeschool room. We did and it proved exactly perfect for my family. Look at my article, Dedicated Homeschool Room or Dining Room Homeschooler.

I trusted my mother instinct, not my teacher instinct. Too, workbooks and books are only part of learning and rigorous standards are important to me and I know too for other homeschoolers.

But we have a huge advantage when we learn outside of four walls and that is we allow every day life to teach our children meaningful lessons. They do happen.

Taking homeschool co-op classes outside of the home and taking instruction from another teacher gave my boys a sense of working with others. Again, as a mother I am concerned with my sons’ lasting happiness. That means I want them to learn to accept others and learn how to communicate with them.

Did I mention they learned to take notes and manage deadlines, which are valuable study skills that I wanted my boys to learn?

Do We Really Need to Prove our Homeschool Worthiness?

All of this and more happened because naturally as we lived life, I seized moments to teach them.

Yes, I think as homeschool moms we tend to try to over achieve and feel we may have to turn every moment into something learning because we may feel the weight of our lifestyle choice hanging around us.

Shedding that let-me-prove-it-to-you mindset allows you to homeschool more freely without feeling you have to prove something to friends and to the world. Can you relate? Look at my article, Homeschooling for the Love of Learning – Does It Really Work.

Learning that things happen in life, which give me perfect teaching moments has made homeschooling natural without worrying which hat I am wearing.

Too, not choosing between two hats, but as the person that knows my sons the best, I know when it’s time to be mom and when it’s time to be teacher. Being a home educator is just another role as mom.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have a fun book how to teach children Shakespeare.

When we had our Renaissance co-op, I was excited to teach about anything from that time period, except Shakespeare.

Thankfully, I didn’t plan the co-op alone and our group brought in a local bard fill-in to teach us about Shakespeare.

It was a huge hit with our high school kids. And until recently, I didn’t think I could repeat the same experience for my younger son.

So I was over the top excited when I received from Ken Ludwig the book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.

Psssst! Before I go on too, I wanted to give you a heads up about the giveaway at the bottom so you don’t miss it.

I was compensated for my time reviewing this product, writing this review, and hosting the giveaway. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off.  ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare (The Easy Way) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare is like that bard fill-in we had at our co-op, who translated English from ancient to modern in an animated way to move us and to make sense of the beautiful words painted by Shakespeare.

How Well Do You Know William Shakespeare?

Isn’t that why so many kids and adults can’t stand Shakespeare to this day? I’ll admit it, I was one of them.

No, it’s not Shakespeare’s stirring poetry, which lights a fire in my emotions or feelings that I don’t like. It’s losing the meaning of the words along the way that makes me want to go the other way.

Too, I tend to get harder about my expectations in teaching tools the longer I homeschool and though I had heard about How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare before, I admit I was skeptical.

Free and helpful quotation page in How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

However, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare didn’t disappoint and it especially didn’t give me another huge set of useless Shakespearean passages to memorize, but gave me a mighty homeschool tool in my pocket.

Fonts in easy to read format on How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at some of the things that struck a chord with me.

No time is wasted in the outset at explaining why people have a hard time memorizing poems or understanding them. Text needs to be read in an easy format.

When we were memorizing these passages, it’s like you can picture the words on the page because they are broken into chunks. And no this method doesn’t just work for children, but for adults too.

After memorizing passages like this, Tiny won’t read it any other way now.

Not only does Ken Ludwig give you tips on how to teach it, but he created free quotation pages at his website, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.

Words matter to our kids.

I love Ken Ludwig’s gentle reminders about why I should be teaching Shakespeare in my homeschool day.

Though I would love to shield my kids as long as I can from the world’s woes, the truth of it is that children can relate to the stress of every day life and poetry gives them a way to connect with those feelings.

Look below at the words by Macbeth that Tiny has been mouthing because they opened the way to a conversation about why people get to this point in their life or why they feel life may be that way now.

It was deeper than I wanted to go, but it reminded me of the power of words. Also, it resonated with me because I homeschool to have personal moments with each one of my boys.

Life’s but a walking shadow, . . . It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Hard to understand terms are explained right in the book.

One of my very favorite parts, which is what made me fall in love with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare is that terms and words that we don’t use everyday are easily explained right with the passage.

No hunting and pecking on the internet for the meaning of the word which interrupts the flow of thought and the moment is gone.

Do You Know the Difference Between Poetry And Prose

Useful background information.

Also, background information is given about passages that made learning Shakespeare with Tiny not only enjoyable by him, but by myself also. It is hard to not be moved by words from passages that talk about love and rejection.

Too, it’s not a secret that we love history in our family and history is alive and makes sense through the words of Shakespeare.

For example, in one passage we were reading from Twelfth Night, Cesario says,

“Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house.”

The quick explanation about the willow cabin was that in Greek and Roman mythology the willow tree was a symbol of grief for unrequited love.

The passage and message then becomes full of meaning because it helps to understand the feelings when love or affection is not reciprocated. Fascinating tidbits like this just fill the pages of this book.

Appendix How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Extra help = Enrichment as if the study of Shakespeare is not rich enough.

There are 25 passages that are put in order in the book so that the guesswork is taking out of which passages to begin memorizing. In addition, as you can see above the Appendix is full of added enrichment.

One book stand alone curriculum.

Another very favorite part of using this book is that it is a one book stand alone curriculum.

It can easily be used by a precocious middle school kid or high school teen because it is laid out in a specific order so that you don’t have to guess and like I mentioned, explanations are given. If you are teaching younger children, you’ll love the teaching tips and teacher help.

Also, I have read many tips on the differences between prose and poetry and the teacher in me loved the insightful tips and detailed ways of telling the difference between the two.

Multi-age timeless curriculum keeper.

It is what I call a curriculum keeper, which means it spans multiple ages and can be used over and over again each year.

You won’t regret purchasing this handy, one book stand alone compact curriculum.

Tiny and I have plans to read the rest of the passages in How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare and that just might lead us to some hands-on activities or lapbook.

Also, check out my other posts:

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

 

 

5 Year Holidays List (2016 to 2020) Homeschool Planner Page

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Year Holiday List @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Today, I’m updating the 5 year holidays list to include the years 2016 to 2020. The permanent page for the 5 year holiday list is kept on Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers.

Curriculum Page for Planner

This has been one of the most handy reference sheets I have used in my 7 step homeschool planner, blog planner, unit study planner and my free student planner.

Basically, this one page (or two if you want both color choices) fits in any planner.

I created this handy reference page because everybody plans differently and having a heads up notice of holidays and observances helps you plan not only your homeschool day, but to plan your year.

In addition, another way I use it is to plan my long-term homeschool schedule. Having one page to look at 5 years worth of holidays and observances keeps the pages and calendars I need in my planner to a minimum.

Also, some people like to write their own dates on their calendars, like I do.

The bottom line is that this one page holiday page is streamlined and can be used for planning short-term or long-term.

Grab your free copies below!

Download Passion Pink and Turquoise Gem.

 

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T
Did you grab my other recent free planner updates?

Free Homeschool Academic Year Calendar – 2016 to 2017
Free Homeschool High School Planning Sheet (and pssst help for high school too)
Free Scope and Sequence Divider Page – Free 7 Step Homeschool Planner

Begin build your FREE and UNIQUE 7 Step Homeschool Planner!

7 Easy Steps – “Tons of Options & Pretty Color”

Step 1. Choose a Pretty Front/Back Cover

Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives

Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You!

Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You! Not a kazillion other people

Step 5b. Choose MORE Unique Forms JUST for You!

Step 5c. Choose MORE MORE Unique Forms Just for You!

Step 6. Personalize It

Step 7. Bind it! Love it!

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

How to Homeschool If You Don’t Have Time

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

How to Homeschool If You Don't Have Time @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusLiving in a society that is more connected than ever before with smart phones, tablets, and computers, those devices have made life easier than it did for our parents. Unlike our parent’s time though, demands on our time have not lessened. Life now is more frantic and fast-moving than ever before.

When Time Gets Slipping Away

In the beginning of my homeschool journey, we didn’t have as many time saving devices as we do now.

Now, in the latter part of my journey, we have many conveniences at our fingertips, but I still find it hard to make time to homeschool. Can you relate?

Today, in sharing how to homeschool if you don’t have time, I want to share a few sanity-saving tips that have helped me to have forward momentum.

Remain schedule focused.

Come what may in terms of apps, planners and devices, my schedule is the only thing I have control over. And in the spirit of keeping it real, I’m not talking about controlling those moments in life that just happen. I do mean that success happens when your schedule becomes a habit.

Hard is an understatement for training wiggly, active and low attention span boys to learn study habits. But as S L O W as my progress was some days, I cut out time from other things to maintain our schedule.

If I am on the computer, on the phone or still cleaning when it was time to start school, I am not modeling the right study skills for my boys when they are young.

It’s a SWEET payoff now that I am down to the last kid and he starts school on his own while I enjoy extra coffee time, extra time on a walk or on the phone.

My boys have been trained to get started for the day by me modeling what I wanted from them. All I can think of now is back to the time when I started homeschooling and seasoned homeschoolers would say the time goes by fast. It does!

By taking time to model what you want first in the morning, you are freeing up thousands of sweet moments later. It’s been worth every effort of sticking to my schedule!

I demanded chores to be done.

In this world of don’t-require-anything-of-me-because-you-might-break-my-free-spirit attitude, I rejected that thinking and stuck to my guns when it was time to do chores both for the family and individually.

The home is a place shared by many individuals and doing a few chores every morning has been one key to maintaining sanity. The important tip though has been accepting a kid cleaned house and getting started for the day.

Not so easy to do when you want to go behind your kids and do it again yourself to be sure it’s done right. That is the difference between success and failure.

Consistency is the key to homeschooling and parenting (you know the two concepts are inextricably linked) and I want my sons to be the kind of people that other people want to be around and have as friends and marriage mates later.

Considerate, clean and being conscientious are skills learned when chores are required.

Counting the Cost of Trivial Time Pursuits

Did I mention the feel good moment when your adult son’s room mate says your son is one of the best room mates he has had? This gives me a good glimpse into how he is around others when I’m not around. You respect others when you keep your surroundings clean.

Don’t be always ready to share your time with others in trivial things.

It may sound harsh, but like any long term career there is a cost to homeschooling that goes beyond dollars.

Some, not all, homeschoolers are the social kind that needs interaction with friends on a daily basis.

While homeschooling is not asking you to make a choice between your kids sand your friends, it is about making your kids priorities. Especially if friends are non-homeschooling friends, they may not understand why you may decide to not exercise your homeschool freedom right then by visiting or running errands with them.

Be willing to limit your time on devices too.

I don’t ask my boys to do something that I am not willing to do.

Many times throughout the years, I have been tempted to slip away to check email or texts while my boys are busy writing. When they were young, it was more important that I did not do that. Now that my baby is in high school, I have more time to do things like that.

By limiting my internet time in the beginning, my sons learned to do what is important first.

Not getting caught up in the hype of frantic living takes effort nowadays.

Turning off the TV and sitting down in the floor like we still do to play a family board game is a battle, but once we get started, it’s hard to stop our family time. Homeschooling is no different and requires just as much effort today.

Don’t get caught up in the fast-paced, more is better attitude that can saturate our lives right now. Knowing that you made each morning a priority in learning brings sweet peace and progress.

How do you shove back when your life becomes hectic?

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Also, grab some tips from these articles:

Stop the Homeschool Time Drain
Divide And Conquer The Ever Growing List of Homeschool Subjects
The Sticking Power of a Homeschool Schedule
3 Easy Fixes to Recharge Your Homeschool Routine

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Linking up @ these places: