As a mother of six children, three of whom are 18 or older, I know very well the joys and concerns that go along with shepherding our children into their adult years! As a fallible parent limited by my own experiences and perspectives in life, I know that it can be difficult to know or think of everything that my children need to know to safely and responsibly navigate the adult world. Â That’s why I’m so glad that I found out about this cool new opportunity for my young adults: Â Illumenedge18.
Created by an attorney with a background in social services who saw many young adults facing difficult consequences due to ignorance or irresponsible behaviors, this site is designed to quickly, carefully, and thoroughly educate a young adult on their rights and responsibilities in the adult world.Â
I was pleased to be able to check out this site and utilize it with my children that are 16, 18, 20, and 24 years old. Â The courses included at Illumenedge18 are:
- Personal Relationships & the Law
- Driving Laws Every Young Driver Must Know
- Tenants, Landlords, and Leases
- Cash, Loans, Debts, and Promises
- Safe Surfing
- Collateral Damage: Â Consequences When You Damage Your Legal Reputation
- Crime…and its Aftermath
- Work and Paying Taxes
- License, Insurance, and Registration Please
Each course is easy to navigate and work through, with short sections to read, explaining the topic in a clear, personable way that anybody would be able to understand. Â Even for those that do not like to read on screens, the amount of text is short enough and formatted in such a way to make it easy and pleasant.
Some of the courses can be worked through in as little as 20 minutes, some up to about 45 minutes.  After going through all of the topic information, there is a quiz at the end of each course, so you can see how well you understood the information.
I noticed that amidst the general information there is quite a bit of Tennessee-specific information as well. Â I asked the owner for more information about this, and she said that the site currently does feature TN-specifics since she is a Tennessee resident and has particular knowledge of those laws. Â As she sees the interest in this site grow, she will be seeking to expand into a more comprehensive site. Â Although I was puzzled about the Tennessee specifics originally, I still felt that the general information was valuable and useful to use even though we live in a different state.
Just to give you an idea of the Tennessee content, for instance when discussing laws about getting married, it refers to the age for that state for getting married with and without parental consent. Â In the section about jobs, it refers to specific laws for TN. So of course if you live somewhere else you’d want to refer to the specifics for your location, but you’ll still have the general idea about the laws that are common within the United States.
My teens and young adults enjoyed the courses and felt that it was an easy site to navigate, and that the information was presented in a way that was helpful and informative. Â They also mentioned that it felt good to see all of this information in one place, where they could learn about things that they may not have ever thought about before, and to help them know how to think and prepare for upcoming opportunities and decisions (like living on their own).
One thing I felt good about was the range of course topics. Â I’m sure most parents hope (and expect!) that their children are not going to grow up and have issues with crime, dangerous driving, problematic relationships, or unscrupulous employers or coworkers. Â Unfortunately, everybody makes mistakes, and sometimes things happen that surprise, shock, or disappoint us. Â We may never think to explain to our children some of these topics, but they or their friends may truly benefit from understanding these legal responsibilities and consequences that they could be facing for foolish behavior. Â This site has done the legwork to tell our young adult children what they need to know, and removed the burden from parents to have to think of each and every one of these topics. Â I think that’s a very valuable service.
Illumenedge18 has a very easy structure to work with.  You pay one flat fee of $40 for unlimited access to all the courses for your whole family for a month.  If you have ever had the misfortune of having to pay legal fees, court costs, increased insurance rates due to poor driving habits, or had to hire a lawyer, you know that this is a huge bargain.  I would absolutely recommend this to all parents with students that are 17+ years of age, and would require them to work through all the courses.  A motivated student could get it all done easily in a week, or you could spread it out a full month if you wanted to.
This review was underwritten by Illumenedge18. Â All opinions are those of myself and my family members that utilized the courses.
