Driving, Driving, Driving

On the road again.... now that the weather and the roads are improving, it's been time for the kids to get back behind the wheel. I had full intentions of having them do more bad weather driving, but unfortunately the bulk of our bad weather had ice involved, and I was NOT enthused about driving in it myself, much less teaching 2 teenagers! What we have been doing is getting the night hours in for DS. That and driver's ed are all he needs before he can test for his license. He needs about 5 more night hours, and driver's ed starts this afternoon, so in about 2 months, we will be finding ourselves scheduling the test and increasing my insurance bill! haha DD is also taking driver's ed but just the classroom part right now. She will only drive if her brother is not in the car now, so we're getting her time in, just slower than what he did.

This weekend's adventure was interesting. It kind of started as a joke but then DS decided it would be fun to do. Both kids are balking at learning how to read a map. In their opinion, they have Mapquest and online direction programs and will want GPS systems in their cars and so won't need to know how to read a map. I've told them that I won't let them go for their license tests until they prove to me that they CAN read a map. After all, it's not like Mapquest is ever wrong! ;-) Anyhoo, I told DS that one day I was going to take him out to the middle of nowhere and make him find his way back home. On his own. And he thought that would be great! He even wanted blindfolded! The only resource he used was the sun. And he did quite well getting us home. It was definitely the scenic route, but we made it. It took him about 1-1/2 hours to get home, usually an hour or a little less), and he thought he was more north than he was, but all in all, he did very well. DD isn't sure she wants the same challenge, though!

Once we get map reading down and night driving more comfortable (for Mom at least!), I need to bite the bullet and let DS drive to our favorite mall in Columbus. He has driven to Columbus once, but that was on Christmas Day, and traffic was definitely sparse. Not sure I want to let him go in full traffic, but I know I have to. My mom never let me drive in a town larger than our hometown, and even that she wasn't too happy about, but I knew I was capable of it. Of course, that was because she didn't like driving in large cities, but I don't mind it. Anyhow, that's coming. And since we didn't get much bad weather driving in this season, informal driver's ed will be continuing into next winter. But that's where we're at. Won't be long at all before they fly on their own.