More than half of my students are given lessons in their home.I'm thinking about changing my policy and saying that after two make-ups per semester in their home, they can have additional make-ups, but only if they come to my house.I'm finding it difficult to schedule these makeups at their house without making special trips when I don't have another lesson scheduled nearby. I can't seem to get my students parents to buy the concept that this a class which runs month to month. If they enrolled in any other class, could they make it up-no!

Does this sound reasonable? I'm interested in hearing what other teachers are doing in this same situation. Without having several lessons scheduled together in the same area, it really makes traveling to their homes unprofitable. Sometimes I just schedule a longer lesson to take care of their make-ups if I don't have another lesson right after that one.

Thanks,

Tom

To me (I don't travel to students' homes btw) it sounds more than reasonable. I think I'd be specifying all make-ups are at the teacher's house, except where the original lesson was missed by the teacher. (And of course, many teachers don't offer make-up lessons at all.)

My lesson policy is that I don't offer makeup lessons at all, however I will make a few exceptions. Generally if I am asked at least a week in advance and it is for something that couldn't be helped, like school camp, I will do a makeup, but I certainly wouldn't be doing more than 2 a term.

I think it would definitely be fair enough for you to say that ALL makeups are conducted at your house. They should be the ones to be incovenienced if the missed lesson was not your fault, not you. If you are tougher on this you'll probably find a huge reduction in the amount of makeups required - with my tough policy I have barely any missed lessons

Mitts-off,

It is very confusing to read: "I don't offer make up lessons at all, however....


wolfetho,
If you have room at your place to offer a class lesson, perhaps you could test the waters for having your students convert to coming to you. That would be stipulating that a class will be given once per quarter for those having cancelled a lesson during the quarter. One make up for however many lessons were missed.

Without makeups as the concern, you could actually design an everybody comes class for the purpose of attracting them to your location, and for proficing something desirable as the musical purpose, such as playing piano for each other, you playing for them, formatted to be either formal instruction or informal more socialization in piano lesson.

Maybe you could tighten up on the acceptable reasons for cancelling a lesson so that you would have minimal make ups to consider. Maybe you will decide "I don't give make up lessons at all....without the however.....!

We just have to take care of our needs or we undermine ourselves and suffer stress and frustration and no end facing these kinds of problems. Burn-out is preventable with the setting of clearn stated rules which are "policy" which means no exceptions - ever.

Betty Patnude

Unfortunately ( or fortunately depending on how you look at it), a big selling point
for me is going to the students home. Many of these parents would not drive their kids over to my house weekly. They really like the convenience of me coming to their house.


Tom

Chopin charged extra and made the parents send a carriage.

Wolfetho understands what I frequently hear from my tuning customers. People like it when teachers come to the home, especially when they have more than one child taking. It's better for the parents schedule, they tell me.

I love Chopin! He always makes me laugh at the way he carried out his affairs. I would so do the same thing if I was at his level. Im impressed that he would even allow such a thing.

I'm going to put that in my Studio Policy for next year.

It is true. However, getting a call from a potential client who lives 45 minutes away really makes you think twice. I am willing to drive if there are like six students who live within a 2-mile radius from each other. And if the price is right, too.

That Chopin bit is gold

I am the mother of three children who receive in-house lessons from our piano teacher, Judy. She is a retired school teacher who lives nearby. We give plenty of notice if we need to cancel, and if she needs to cancel, she calls us as soon as humanly possible.

Here is our family's philosophy, which she argues about every time the situation arises: We pay for a block of her week. If our children are ill, if we're on vacation, if we have something that came up and we cannot be available, we still pay her. If she's ill, or she has a funeral, or she's on vacation, we still pay her. She NEVER takes advantage of us, and we wouldn't consider taking advantage of her. She is a GIFT to our family, inasmuch as she is there teaching my children before I even get home from work.

Her skills are priceless, as is her flexibility. Whenever possible, if she's able to juggle her day and fit us in for a missed lesson, she does. It goes both ways. By the way, music teachers everywhere ... THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!

I have 3 students who come to me and the rest (31) I go to their homes. Some days are more "efficient" than others...for example they are grouped together or I teach siblings. I admit my studio is a fair bit more complicated than the the studio-at-home teacher but for me it works. In an earlier post I was intending on changing my studio to my house. I was tired of the wasted time driving and wear and tear on my car as well. However, I have realized that I really dislike my students coming to me! We live in a small place and it's very stressful trying to make sure everything is going to be quiet for my students. Also we have a lumbering Old English Sheep dog who thinks he's a lap dog.

Mid month I present my students with a calendar for the upcoming month. We talk about schedules and plan our month out. If they are going to be gone I schedule two extended lessons to make up for the missed one. Sometimes I have two that can switch...that's why I ask for as much notice as possible. If they call me once the month has begun (after our little meeting), they usually have to "eat" the lesson. However, with really good students who never miss, sometimes I throw them a bone and give them the two longer make-ups. It depends on the situation. If I have a student who is beginning to cancel here and there or not show up, etc, I have a talk with them about whether they are really serious about piano. I would say everyone is so grateful for me coming to them, they really put an effort into not canceling, etc.

For the students who never ever miss and refer me to other students in their vicinity, I usually offer them a couple of free lesson books. Ideally I would love to have everyone directly in my neighborhood, but it's going to be a few years before that dream. Especially since I just picked up 6 home schooled kids 25 miles east of here who can take lessons during typical school hours (on the same day). These guys are worth the effort for sure!

I'm just curious, don't teachers who travel to the students' home charge extra for gas/mileage as well as their travel time? It seems like a fair thing to do. But I can see for siblings in the same home, this extra charge can be just a single flat fee since the travel overhead is the same. But the overhead charge is definitely legit, IMHO. And on the other hand, students who come to you wouldn't get charged this travel fee.

I would imagine that most do this. The question is, how much extra should you charge and how much more are customers willing to pay?

For example if you travel out for a half hour lesson and it take 15 mins to get there and the same to get back could you really charge double? Add in the cost of gas and it's probably more like 60% extra.

For me the figures just don't stack up. Even if I were able to arrange students who live in the same area on the same night (which is unlikely) I would still lose over an hour each evening in travel. I did this when I first started out but thankfully teach from home now.