Student drivers · ages 15 to 17
Classroom teachers, teaching students how to drive.
The same classroom teachers applying the same educational concepts, teaching techniques, and adaptations in the car to meet the needs of all students. We started this because the district stopped offering behind-the-wheel, and families still needed it.
Enroll nowThe process
How a teen gets licensed in Minnesota
Four steps, and they have to happen in order. Most families get tripped up because nobody hands them the whole picture at once. Here it is.
Thirty hours of classroom
Required before the permit test — and you have two ways to get it done. Take our state-approved 30-hour online classroom (self-paced, start any time) and we keep the completion on file for you. Or bring a completion letter from another program — ISD 196 and others — and we'll need that letter before we can enroll your student. Either way, the classroom comes first.
Enroll with us, then pass the permit test
Once you enroll and pay, we enter your student in the state system and issue the E-Card (Blue Card) they need to sit the permit test — usually overnight, and always within 48 hours. Then they take the Knowledge (Permit) Test at a DVS exam station.
Six hours behind the wheel — plus fifty hours with you
The six hours are ours. The fifty are yours. Minnesota requires fifty hours of supervised driving logged with a parent or guardian, fifteen of them at night. This is the part most families white-knuckle through alone, and it is the part that actually makes a driver.
Six months on the permit, then the road test
A student under 18 must hold the instruction permit for at least six months before the road test, and must be 16 to apply for a license. No shortcuts on either. After the six hours of behind-the-wheel are complete, we issue the E-Card (White Card) your student needs to take the road test.
The order matters. Classroom first, then the E-Card (Blue Card), then the permit — and once they have the permit, they can start driving and schedule behind-the-wheel lessons. We cannot take a student out until they have a permit in hand. If you are not sure where your student is in the sequence, contact us and we will work it out with you.
Requirements from Minnesota DVS. Rules change — check the current DVS requirements before you plan around a date.
What we do
The six hours
Six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, taught one-on-one by a teacher your student may already know. Not just test prep — the kind of driving they will actually do once they have a license. Left turns. Highway merges. Cedar Avenue at 4pm.
Behind the wheel
All six hours, plus the E-Card (Blue Card) your student needs to take the permit test. Payment plan available: two payments of $220.
Priority scheduling
Optional. Moves your student up the list when the schedule is full. Worth it if there is a road test on the calendar.
Need the classroom too? Our state-approved 30-hour online classroom can be taken on its own, or bundled with the six hours in our package to save versus buying them apart. Full pricing is below.
Finish in a stretch, not a trickle. Most students start and finish within about six weeks — and that is by design. Each lesson builds on the one before it, so finishing in a shorter window means skills carry forward instead of resetting. From there, students and parents keep refining with supervised driving time. We also prefer students have about five hours of driving experience before they schedule their first lesson, so the six hours with us build real skill rather than starting from zero.
For parents
The fifty hours are the hard part
Six hours with us. Fifty with you. That ratio tells you where your student actually learns to drive — and almost nobody teaches parents how to do it.
You do not need to be a driving instructor. You need to know when to talk and when to stay quiet, what to practice in what order, and how to keep your voice level when your kid drifts toward a curb. Ask your instructor. They will tell you what to work on next, every single lesson.
Start in an empty lot. Not a quiet street — a lot. A Sunday-morning parking lot is where a new driver learns what the pedals do without anything to hit. Everything else gets easier after that.
Logistics
Where we meet and when
Our instructors are professional educators, so we already schedule around the school day, practices, and games. Evenings and weekends are normal for us.
Pickup. Included across our normal service area. For locations outside it there may be a small per-lesson charge — email us and we'll give you an exact answer for your address.
Meeting point. Always free, from anywhere. Many families just meet the instructor at the school.
The car. Your student drives ours. It is insured and maintained. No passengers during a lesson — the student driver and the instructor only.
Pickup
Pickup and where we meet
Pickup is included across our normal service area. For locations outside it, there may be a small per-lesson charge to cover fuel and vehicle time — email us and we'll give you an exact answer for your address.
Sometimes we pick up at your house; sometimes we ask to meet at a local school instead, to keep lessons running efficiently and on schedule. Let us know if you have a preference and our instructors will do their best to accommodate.
Questions about pickup or costs? Email us and we'll sort out exactly what works for your situation.
Enrollment
What it costs
Two ways most families go: just the six hours if the classroom is already done, or the complete package — classroom and behind-the-wheel together, at the best price.
Next you'll give us a few details and check out. If your student is doing the classroom somewhere else, you'll send us their completion letter — if they're doing it with us, we already have it.
What happens next
After you enroll
We enter your student in the state system
Within 48 hours of payment and the classroom being done — ours, or a completion letter from another program. Then we issue the E-Card (Blue Card), usually overnight.
Your student takes the permit test
At a DVS exam station, with the E-Card (Blue Card). They cannot sit the test without it.
You contact us to schedule
Once the permit is in hand, contact us and we will start booking the six hours around your family's schedule. This is also when any pickup for locations outside our area is worked out.
Nothing happens until the permit exists. We cannot put a student behind the wheel without one — that is state law, not our policy. Enroll whenever you like, but the lessons start after the permit.