Tutoring and Test Prep for Naperville Families
FlyingMinds is an online school-skills platform built by teachers who have taught thousands of children over many years, and who know exactly where students get stuck — including in a Naperville classroom. Families in District 203 and Indian Prairie 204 tend to use it for three things: keep grade-level skills sharp between report cards, prepare for the tests Illinois actually gives, and get through the ACT, the SAT and the college application without hiring a consultant.
What a Naperville family actually gets
Skills that teach first
Every lesson opens with a worked example and a guided try before the questions start, then practises the skill at four levels. Kindergarten through Grade 12, in reading, writing, math, science and social studies.
Live small-group classes
Taught over Zoom by the teacher who writes the lessons, in small groups, with the platform included for the whole family.
SAT & ACT, skill by skill
Forty-nine skills, each taught and then practised on passages pitched a step above the real test, including a set built entirely on published prose.
College applications
CollegeOS helps a family shortlist colleges, track deadlines and keep essays moving — included for members.
The tests Illinois actually gives
Illinois is unusual in a way that matters for planning. In grades 3-8 students sit the IAR in English and math; in grade 11 the state test is a college-entrance exam. Illinois has moved that contract to the ACT, and Indian Prairie 204 now tests with the ACT, while plenty of students here still sit the SAT for admissions. Either way it is not an optional extra — it is the state assessment, and the reading, writing and math skills behind both exams are the same ones the IAR has been testing since third grade.
FlyingMinds is not an IAR item bank and does not reproduce released state questions. It teaches the skills underneath both tests — main idea and inference, using evidence, text structure, grammar and punctuation, number sense, fractions, ratios and multi-step problems — and then practises them at four levels of difficulty, finishing with ACT and SAT skills for high school.
| What's happening | Where to start |
|---|---|
| Report card is fine, but reading comprehension slips on tests | Benchmark Skills — pick the grade, start with main idea and inference |
| Child is ahead and bored | Use the grade above; the same skill is taught at every grade with harder text |
| Gifted-and-talented screening is coming | CogAT prep by grade and the free CogAT demo |
| Grade 9-12, SAT or ACT on the horizon | SAT vs ACT skills guide, then the SAT/ACT skill lessons |
| Writing is the weak spot | Essay structure and the Literary Essay Trainer |
Why families here use it alongside a strong school district
Naperville schools are good, and most families here are not looking for rescue. They are looking for two things a busy classroom cannot always give: something harder for a child who finishes early, and a quiet way to relearn the one skill that slipped. Both are the same tool used differently — the skill is taught first, then practised at the level that fits, whatever grade that happens to be.
Two things we will not do: promise a score jump, or hand a child questions with no teaching in front of them. Every lesson teaches first.
Start this week
$29 a month for everything, cancel any time. Live classes are $160 a month and include the platform.
Start for $29/month Try the free demo firstQuestions Naperville parents ask
Do you have a location in Naperville?
No — everything is online, which is why there is no drive and no centre fee. Live classes meet over Zoom, in Central Time.
Is the state test the SAT or the ACT?
Illinois now uses the ACT for junior-year state testing — Indian Prairie 204 among them — and many students still take the SAT for admissions. Our high-school skills are taught for both exams and are part of the same subscription, so you do not have to choose in advance.
My child already gets good grades. Is this useful?
Usually yes, and the reason is boredom rather than gaps: strong students can work a grade up in the same skill, since every skill is taught at every grade with harder texts and bigger numbers.
Can two children share one subscription?
Yes. A family account can hold several children, each with their own login and their own progress.
What if we stop?
Cancel from the account page and the billing stops at the end of the month. There is no contract and no cancellation call.
Who teaches the classes?
A classroom teacher with many years and thousands of students behind her, who writes the curriculum on this site herself. Classes are kept small on purpose.