During the frightening ordeal at 12.50am on February 25, the 16-year-old entered the 57-year-old woman's bedroom where she was sleeping, and held up a torch and knife, before stealing her property.

The Ballarat teenager was sentenced at a Children's Court on Thursday after he had earlier pleaded guilty to a string of charges, including aggravated burglary, theft and car theft.

In sentencing, the magistrate said the sentence reflected how very serious in nature the teenager's offending was.

He said he hoped the teenager would receive the help he needed, otherwise he would face a dim future if he continued to re-offend.

The court had been told the teenager entered the Mount Clear house after smashing a window, and went into the victim's bedroom carrying a knife he picked up in the kitchen.

The teenager was holding a torch and knife when he hissed at the owner, who had woken, and pointed the knife in her direction.

He then took a mobile phone and jewellery from the owner's bedside table before he left the property with those items and a purse and car keys.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the home owner said she believed her life was in danger, she felt extreme fear and she was physically paralysed.

The victim said her 86-year-old mother became traumatised after she had to seek assistance to phone police.

Days later on March 2, the teenager attended a Joseph Street address in Ballarat East to steal a tip truck, which he told police he drove around for 16 hours before abandoning it in Wilson Street.

He also broke into the Sebastopol Bowling Club looking for valuables, smashed a construction vehicle window to steal two-way radios and stole a wallet from a swimming pool change room and mountain bike from a Ballarat high school.

A defence lawyer noted the teen's traumatic upbringing and the efforts from support agencies to re-engage him, but conceded his behaviour was escalating.

The teenager has already served 27 days in pre-sentence detention.