Am i driving right?

My dad thinks I'm driving wrong but I think he's just inpatient. I always stop at stop signs right behind the white line then I check to make sure no pedestrians are crossing. Then I slowly pull up to check for oncoming traffic before I decide to make my turn. He gets mad at me every time I do this. He always yells at me and asks "why don't you just pull up that far the moment you get here?!" Its my understanding that you MUST STOP before the white line.