Get your teen ready to hit the road, regardless of how they learn
Feb. 1, 2024
On days when it feels like you need to do everything and be everywhere, having another licensed driver around can make a huge difference. However, it only helps when you have the peace of mind of knowing that driver knows how to drive safely.
Staff in our Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS), we are dedicated to making sure drivers are ready to hit the road, but we know not everyone learns best in a traditional classroom setting. That's why we have worked with our partners across the state to offer online and home-schooling options for driver's education.
Our goal: Make sure soon-to-be drivers know the rules of the road, regardless of how they learn.
The material covered is the same DVS-approved curriculum received during in-person programs and undergo the same audits and checks to ensure the curriculum meets all the DVS standards. Each driver will need to pass the written and road tests to get their license.
Minnesota law allows
parents who are home-schooling their children full-time to teach the classroom portion of driver's education, as long as those parents are following the same curriculum. They also will need to fill out the
Home School Driver's Education Affidavit form and turn it into the Office of Driver Education.
Make sure your child is ready for their standard driver's license by studying the
Class D Driver's Manual, which is translated into multiple languages on our website including Spanish, Somali and Hmong. We also provide the manual in audio files.
In order to take the road test teen drivers must:
- Be at least 16 years old and have held an instruction permit for at least six months with no convictions for moving, alcohol or controlled substance violations.
- Have completed driver's education and have the white course completion card.
- Present a supervised driving log verifying that they have completed the practice hours required by state law. The details are laid out in
the driver's manual.
- The parent, court appointed guardian, county appointed foster parent or director of the transitional living program in which the child resides must approve the driver's license application.
Find a list of
driver education courses on our website. We also have a list of
approved online programs. More information on specific licensing requirements can be found
on the DVS website.
