Here in Illinois, the cut off for kindergarten is Sept 1st. So…all sophomores are 16 by August 31st and almost all of them did drivers ed last summer or this school year. Lots of S19’s friends have their licenses. S19 wasn’t interested and we held off, but he’ll take drivers ed this summer. I think they have to drive something like 50 hours before they can get their license so I have no idea how fast he can rack up those kinds of hours. I just want to get the class over with and then I don’t really care when he actually gets his license. We live in a walk-to kind of town. He can walk or ride his bike to all of the restaurants in town or to high school. If you ask me, getting his license is only important so that he’s a decent driver before he goes to college.
In our state, learner’s permits aren’t issued until age 16. My d turned 16 in December but we didn’t end up with the permit until April. She’s a cautious kind of kid, do we have slowly worked in driving. She drives a little almost every day, but we haven’t jumped into the most difficult types of roads yet. She will take driver’s ed over the summer and then in October or so she can try the drivers test for her license. She’s not really in a huge rush though.
My younger d is only 13 and would already have her license if she could.
@Gatormama I’m also not rushing to have my D19 get her driver’s license, even though it will complicate my schedule next year if I’m still driving her around everywhere. She turns 16 over the summer, so she’s on the young side for a sophomore, but even more so, she’s a distractable flibberdegibbet and the idea of her driving gives me hives!
The only reason my D19 finally gave in and got her learners permit (right after turning 16, in a state where you can get yours once you turn 14) was so that she’ll have a government-issued ID to be able to fly to the lower 48 with the rest of us this summer.
@dfbdfb One needs an ID to fly from Alaska to the lower 48? When we flew over spring break, I asked one of the agents when S19 would need an ID to fly and he said when he was 18. S19 has a passport, but we never bring it if we are flying within the U.S.
son19 turns 16 in August, he is one of the youngest kids in his grade. He will do a driver training class and then maybe get his permit in August if he has time. Need to try to squeeze it in, but August is busy with vacation, soccer camp, son17 leaving for college, back to school etc.
I think it’s safer for kids to wait until they are a little bit oder to drive. My older son only drive a little bit until his senior year. He matured and got better at driving. He mostly uses the car to go back and forth to school, not long amounts of driving. We plan to do the same with son19
I thought that the government issued ID or passport started next year. My state is just now offering approved IDs, but my son has a military dependent ID that should be sufficient .
It’s definitely safer for kids to wait - D worries me, because in an infrequent driving lesson in an empty parking lot over the winter, she got overconfident and goosed the accelerator – but forgot that she was still in reverse, and so she shot back into the parking curb. She needs a bit more hesitance, methinks.
(By her age, though, I’d already taught myself to drive by stealing the family car when mom was out shopping, and thought I was the cat’s meow, so I really don’t have a leg to stand on.)
In my part of the woods, teens can get a learners at 15y 9mth but can’t drive alone until 16y 6mth. My D19 got her learners the day she was eligible and has been in the drivers seat ever since. You can’t bus or walk anywhere around here but I still see plenty of kids/parents waiting. She is doing well, though it is a bit terrifying in the passenger seat!
So, when are you planning on taking the SATs? (or have you already done so?). I was thinking maybe Dec and March but not sure if that is too late. We aren’t aiming Ivy or top 50 over here so I don’t feel a huge rush. Just not sure when is the right time. Thinking we will throw an ACT in there too. Is anyone doing private tutoring for SAT? I wish I could find one.
D19 has her learner’s permit and will take Behind The Wheel classes at the end of next month. Therefore she should go for her road test the first week of July. We still have many parent-led driving instruction hours to make up in the next four weeks. (She’ll be 16 over the summer.) So far she has only driven in large parking lots and our neighborhood streets.
As for SATs – no plans to take them and instead plan for the ACT in September (2017). If D does well on the PSAT in October, we may think about the SAT if the ACT results are not strong. (D19 did a practice test in both SAT and ACT and her ACT results were much stronger.)
@Cotton2017 my son will take the PSAT in the fall. and then we’ll do SAT and ACT in the winter. See which one he likes better and proceed from there.
I’m sure he’ll even end up taking SAT?ACT in his senior year in the Fall. After going thru the process with my older son, we realized that having a decent score (30-32 ACT) was good enough to get into a lot of good schools, but if the kid can somehow pull off a 33-35 the chance for merit money is much higher. Not much merit $$ fbeing forked over for low 30’s.
@Cotton2017 - we just signed up for the August SAT here. There were not a lot of places to take it, as it’s a new time. We also signed up for an SAT prep course for the month of August. D has taken a mock SAT and also took the actual SAT in 8th grade to qualify for CTY (though we can’t afford the programs; it was more for my ego, if I’m brutally honest with myself). I took the guidance several others offered: that junior year is a pretty difficult year overall without adding SAT prep to the mix, and that it would be good to start earlier rather than later. I’m sure it’s not for everyone.
We’re with @Gatormama . S19 has taken ACTs and SATs since seventh grade for CTY and prefers the SAT (even the new one that he took at a Kaplan center for free). So, the August SAT it is and then we will go from there. I think he should take it again in Sept or Oct no matter his score but we will see. He’s got the time to study this summer and not so much time to fit it in during the school year.
@homerdog, yet another example (though not as galling as Free Shipping Anywhere Within the United States!! offers that don’t apply to Alaska or Hawai’i) of how we’re not actually part of the country, I suppose.
(The rules vary by airline. with minimums set by the TSA. Some airlines are more restrictive and require ID at age 16, at least up here.)
I’m leaning towards encouraging a fall SAT. She has done practice ones online and seemed comfortable with them. She did a mock ACT a few weeks ago and felt much more rushed.
We would only do ACT if her actual SAT score ends up being significantly lower than expected.
S19 has been flying solo (well, within continuous states) with only his school ID, which has his photo and DOB.
We got him Global Entry card (a passport is prerequisite) which gives TSA Pre so that we can breeze through airports like pre-911 days. GE is a govt id.
S19 has no interest in driving and is waiting for self-driving cars. 
Driving is the last thing S19 needs added to his plate right now (or mine frankly), S17 doesn’t even have his license yet for various reasons. I can’t fit drivers ed into the schedule anyway and there is no extra car, nor do I want to pay the increase in insurance. So basically, no one is in a rush! I do want S17 to get his license over the summer though…
He does have a passport card if needed for travel and we may get him a state ID just as it’s good to have on hand in addition to the student ID.
S17 got his license only recently as well. He held onto his permit three full years. :)) He did drive to school for about 10 days before graduation last Saturday. It was nice as his schedule was constantly changing near the senior finals and graduation. He has been gone all day last few days to various graduation parties driving on his own. :D/ I am thinking it was good thing that he did not get his “freedom” too soon. 
Driving to school is kind of a thing in our town. It seems like the majority of the kids drive their own cars, many of them hand me downs from parents, but they still have their own cars. We did not get son17 his own car, be borrows one of our cars daily. My poor car has some new scratches and dings from being parked in the school lot every day.
We won’t get son19 a car either, he can borrow one of ours like his brother did. It’s going to be challenging for son19 to get his license over the next year because he has to take the tests and put in the driving time before getting his official license. I’m in no rush, he gets it when he gets it. but hopefully he can be driving for Senior year a bit.
S19 has been driving for a long time, we live in a rural area and it is not unusual to see kids in ATVs and tractors on the road (and no, it’s not legal, but everyone does it anyway). We will still ease into this - no one else in the car, disabled the radio, no highway driving. Small town, we’ll be told if he’s acting stupid :).
School is done today, S19 continued his history of spring slump with grades this semester lower in every class. I really need to find a spring EC that will keep him engaged.