Does anyone have recommendations for curriculum for parent taught Drivers Ed? There are about 80 possible companies registered with TDLR in which to buy materials.

Does anyone have any advice in general on this topic? I did a search previously but didn't see much that was relevant.

I recently called Austin Driving School to see about registering my teen for an upcoming session. They said that there was a lot of availability for the in class instruction, but that the driving hour instruction hours were very full/booked. Upon further explanation, they stated that each hour is scheduled separately and that my teen might get 1 hour of active driving time per 1-2 months... So now looking into parent taught, although I may not have any hair left by the end of this process. Prayers welcome! Haha!

I did self taught with my daughter (now 21). Can't recall which course material we used, but I'm guessing most are the same. Had the same issue when I looked at instructor taught, plus the challenges of a kid in HS Band and other extra curricular activities.

Note on parallel parking… we found a place that actually had parallel parking lines in the parking lot and practiced a lot there when the business was closed and no one was around. Turns out, the space they give them for the test is much larger.

We also had a challenge for the driving test. The DPS was booked months in advance, but apparently you can get a 3rd party driving test too. Plus, with a free retest if you fail (at a later date), it seemed like there were incentives for the instructor to pass. The guy we found (we were in Round Rock at the time) took the time to sit down with her before the drive, walk her through all the things on the test with tips on what to watch out for (make sure to turn into the close lane, rather than turning wide). Then took her for a drive of the course before the test and then did the test. Afterwords, he even pointed out a couple areas she could work on to drive better even though she passed. Really good experience, way better than a grumpy DPS worker potentially looking to fail you.

We used SafeWay Driving (at the Towerpoint HEB). The classroom portion is online and there was always plenty of availability for driving sessions. They are also certified to give the DPS test.

We did Aceable for our son last year. He did the course work at his pace, and we did the driving portion with him. There are often coupons for the course (Safe 2 Save had one when we enrolled him.) I HIGHLY recommend paying Austin Driving School for the driving test. It was much easier to schedule with them and the instructors are not power hungry and intimidating like the ones at our DPS.

Aceable for online instruction, Safeway @ tower point HEB for the test

We just did Aceable with my daughter, it was easy. Had all my paperwork in order, (was certain I was going to be missing something and have to come back a second time!!), when we went to the DPS office for her driving permit. That process was very easy, I was dreading it the most. But with the appointment, we didn't even sit down when they called our name, took about 20-30 minutes to go through all the paperwork, application, photo and vision test and walk out with the permit.

Scheduled an appointment at the Bryan DPS the day after we scheduled it. I thought we might have to go to Hearne or Caldwell based on what I'd read in the past about getting appointments.

We've just started the driving instruction with her, so no input on the driving test, but will have to research that when we get there. I'll be making notes based on this tread.

iisanaggie said:

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We did Aceable for our son last year. He did the course work at his pace, and we did the driving portion with him. There are often coupons for the course (Safe 2 Save had one when we enrolled him.) I HIGHLY recommend paying Austin Driving School for the driving test. It was much easier to schedule with them and the instructors are not power hungry and intimidating like the ones at our DPS.

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Agreed. Used it for three different kids.

+1 for Aceable for the parent-taught instructional program. All the instructional programs have to cover the same content. Seemed practical to buy one on the cheaper end. Aceable falls on the cheaper end.

Aceable's instruction is fine. The kid is able to take the "written" component of the permit test on the Aceable website. The site incorporates a fair amount of "dad humor" which my teen found slightly annoying, but not obtrusive.

We did the driving test via appointment at Bryan DPS. That experience was fine.

We used National Driver Training for 3 kids. Was easy enough. Had tough time teaching #3 kid to parallel park. Paid for one hour of private lessons at Austin Driving School across from Bryan High and kid nailed it. There is a parallel parking spot in their parking lot so kid tested in same place as practice. Kids 1 and 2 did driving test at Bryan DPS and it was un-fun but doable. Found out at Austin Driving School with #3 that they could do the test and that parallel parking was not a automatic fail like at Bryan DPS.

Highly recommend driving test at Austin Driving School (or probably Safeway too) as it was way less pressure/anxiety for the kid.

rptsAg03 said:

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Aceable for online instruction, Safeway @ tower point HEB for the test

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Ditto

Thank you all for the feedback! It was very helpful. I'll be going the Aceable route!

I have had two use Aceable.

First took that test at Austin Driving in Bryan due to covid delays at DPS.
Second took the test in Huntsville. Hunstville is a very good place to take the exam.

I don't remember which program we used, I think different ones for each kid.

I would highly recommend the Caldwell DPS office when it's test time. Absolutely amazing customer service. I didn't think DPS knew what customer service is but they do in Caldwell - I contacted DPS state office and bragged on Caldwell.
Same guy did the test for both my boys and he's awesome. I think he's the only one that does tests there.

Use SafeWay.

Regarding parallel parking …

Hitting the curb during the test in an automatic failure. Being too far from the curb is a 2 point deduction. Make sure you kid is reasonably good at it and that they understand the test is not the time to practice. As my daughter said 2 points is better than no license.

rptsAg03 said:

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Aceable for online instruction, Safeway @ tower point HEB for the test

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Did this for both my kids and strongly recommend both.