top of page
You Have Got Questions...
We Have Got Answers!
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
SkySlate is an after-school, supplementary education program. The program offers multiple subjects, including (but not limited to) Math, English, Science, and SAT/ACT Foundation courses.
SkySlate students "virtually" meet with their teacher for a tutoring session for one hour (per course), once per week.
Although SkySlate's unique design allows for all aspects of the program (including virtual tutoring sessions) to be accessed and completed anywhere using a smart tablet.
SkySlate students receive the highest quality worksheets delivered electronically to their iPad or Android tablet. After completing their weekly homework on their smart tablets, they submit it to their teacher for review.
The program is designed to help students build a solid foundation in core subjects while improving students' grades in school and scores in various examinations (such as the SAT and ACT).
In addition to the standard Common Core support curriculum, SkySlate also offers competition preparation courses, providing advanced content and lessons to help students achieve greater academic success and readiness for academic competitions (like American Math Competitions, Math Counts, spelling bees, etc).
SkySlate's current course offerings include:
• Standard Math (Common Core support, builds strong foundation and promotes confidence)
• Competitive Math (Advanced, competition-level training + ACT/SAT prep)
• Standard English (Common Core support, builds strong foundation and promotes confidence)
• Competitive English (Advanced, competition-level training + ACT/SAT prep)
• Scientific Critical Thinking (Teaches standards-based Science, developing reading, writing, and critical thinking skills)
• SAT Foundation (College entrance prep—a 3-year rigorous foundation-building course, unique to SkySlate)
• No contract; cancel anytime
• ACT Foundation (College entrance prep—a 3-year rigorous foundation-building course, unique to SkySlate
For each course, students will have access to a one-hour "virtual" coaching session with a US-based experienced teacher every week. These "virtual" classes are live and students participate using their smart device so they can interact with teachers remotely, anywhere with wi-fi access.
SkySlate teachers are experienced, passion, experienced, and based in the Metro-Detroit area of Michigan (U.S.A). We do not mix students from different grades (except for SAT/ ACT)—SkySlate is a highly-focused program, allowing teachers to work with small groups, offering more individual attention to better students' learning. In general we try to keep 10 students or less in a class, except in ACT / SAT foundation courses.
For each course, SkySlate homework takes an average of approximately 20 minutes every day. Some students can take more or less time based on their current abilities. This works out to about 7–10 worksheets per week for each course. Our goal is to advance students' academic skills, helping them reach their potential, not to overwhelm them, drowning them with coursework. They already get enough of that at school!
The registration process consists of 4 steps:
• Inquiry: Contact us by calling 1-877-333-6553 or by filling out the Contact Form at the bottom of this page. A SkySlate agent will explain all of the program details, fees, class schedules, etc., then send you a confirmation email.
• Registration: After we've made "first contact," new students will register an account by filling out the SkySlate Enrollment Form.
• Schedule: The next step includes course selection, a placement test, and choosing a convenient tutoring schedule.
• Payment: The first month is free. Then, a SkySlate agent will email an invoice with payment details. See pricing info here.
During registration, a SkySlate agent will go over how to pay securely via our PCI-certified payment gateway.
For convenience, we have provided a way to automatically charge your credit or bank card with a “Monthly Recurring Fee.” Using this method, we don’t have to follow up with you every month for payment. You will also be able to create your profile during payment so you can track the payment history anytime in future to manage your payments.
You have 2 options for making your payment(s):
1. Bank Account
2. Credit Card
If you choose to pay through your bank account (recommended), SkySlate does not have to pay the credit card processing fee on your payment. We will pass on those savings to you with a 2% discount. You will see these options during your payment process.
We do not accept any other form of payment.
SkySlate is the only program that offers:
1. A real-teacher tutoring sessions "virtually" online using a smart tablet (allowing students to work from anywhere without wi-fi access).
2. Electronic delivery of weekly worksheets right to students' smart tablets, which provide a unique "immediate auto-correction" feature, giving students quick feedback to the accuracy of their work.
3. Capability to do homework without internet access. A wi-fi connection is only needed to download new worksheets and upload completed ones, and for tutoring sessions. This allows students to do their homework anytime, anywhere!
4. Both Common Core support courses as well as Competition preparation courses.
5. Video recordings of live, online tutoring sessions that can be viewed after the class. This is especially useful for reference or for students who miss a class.
6. The highest quality worksheets designed by experienced teachers intended to elevate your child’s level of knowledge and academic skills.
7. The lowest prices of all comparable programs while offering much, much more!
8. A one-month free trial.
9. The custom, intuitive, user-friendly SkySlate mobile app.
10. Weekly or daily progress reports of your student's development delivered to you via email.
Internet access is only required for participating in live tutoring sessions each week, and for downloading/uploading weekly worksheets. The upload/download process takes less than a minute. Once the worksheets are downloaded, students do not need internet access to work on them. Students can work in the car, while waiting at an activity...anytime, anywhere. Students don’t even need a pen or paper, they can "virtually" write directly on the tablet with their fingers using our unique SkySlate app (free to download after registration).
The SkySlate app is compatible with iPads or Android tablets. We strongly recommend a 10-inch tablet as the text on the SkySlate digital worksheets will look the same size as on a printed paper. Our app works on any size tablet (even smartphones), but students may have difficulty reading some of the smaller text on screens smaller than 10 inches.
The SkySlate app occupies very little memory, from about 0.5GB to 1GB. Keeping other apps you may use in mind, a smart tablet with 16GB space should be more than adequate to run this program. However, as a general rule, if you can afford it, more space is usually a better option for both effective storage and functionality.
Nope. Students may use them if they'd like, but they are unnecessary. One of the many useful features in the SkySlate app allows for students to write with their fingers directly on the tablet screen. However, tablet-pens will work if a student prefers to use one. Our recommendation is to write directly on the tablet only while driving or when notepad and pen are not available. Although we've made the SkySlate app as convenient as possible, we want our students to develop positive learning habits, so we promote the use of additional resources and taking advantage of organizational space, such as using pencil and paper in addition to our app, all on a clean, large workspace. That being said, the features of the SkySlate app makes sure students can still complete their work with only their tablet and their minds!
Absolutely. The SkySlate program is structured with an increasing order of difficulty to challenge students of all calibers. Our placement test allows your child to begin at a level that is appropriate for their skills. The SkySlate program is intended to both support struggling students as well as push more advanced students to reach their full academic potential.
Our coaching sessions and worksheets are designed to improve any student's ability to better understand any subject matter, boost academic self-confidence, and achieve better grades. The progressive nature of the program allows students to incrementally ramp up their knowledge and better engage in all subjects.
The SkySlate program requires all students to use a valid email address for their user ID. Students may use a parent's email address if they do not have their own. Or, of course, students or parents can register a new email address for free (Gmail, Yahoo, etc). Make sure to use a password for the SkySlate program that is different from the password used to access email. The password should be unique, but easy to remember, as students will frequently have to use this password to login to the app on their smart tablet.
The benefits of using your email address:
• Extremely simple process to reset an account password (the program sends link via this email address to reset the password)
• Daily or weekly progress reports can be sent to that email address
• Any communication from SkySlate will be sent to this email address, simplifying the communication process
Generally, students will have 2 weeks worth of homework on their tablet. We don't want to overwhelm students with worksheets. We also want to keep students on our structured path of consistent, academic progression—getting ahead can often be a great idea, but not if it interrupts or impedes our research-based educational process. However, if you are going on a long vacation during which you may not have internet access, you can request worksheets for up to 4 weeks.
Cancelation is easy. We want to earn your respect and trust through the effectiveness of our program, which is why we do not use contracts. If, for any reason, you would like to cancel your SkySlate subscription, please call us or send us an email and we will process the cancelation. You can find our contact information at the bottom of this page.
bottom of page