Handling Monday holiday lessons
Found in: Fees Rates & Cost
Susan M., Canada
I’m considering starting new classes on Monday evenings. I charge students a monthly flat fee and I’m wondering about the “holiday” Mondays. In my policies, I don’t guarantee makeup lessons. If you have a similar payment structure, have you found it an issue with families when you can’t promise them the same number of lessons that a student on another weekday would get?
Anna J., Canada
I have monthly rates and teach on Mondays. I simply make sure they end up with the same number of lessons overall as my other students. Usually that means that I intentionally schedule some personal holidays on other days of the week throughout the year so it evens out, and/or my Monday classes simply run a week or two longer than the others. I teach 36 weekly lessons from September through June, then schedule open review sessions during July and August that students can sign up for. It’s worked fine for me.
My lesson fees are charged as follows: I take 36 weeks of lessons, plus two summer review sessions, plus two recital opportunities. The total for these 40 “events” is then divided into 10 equal monthly payments. So students don’t pay separately for the summer review lessons unless they opt to register for more than two. Then I simply charge them my single lesson rate.
Stephen R., California
Mondays are an issue, but my option is to offer an alternate day those weeks or they “skip” it. There’s really only Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Anna J., Canada
We have four Monday holidays here in Canada between September and June, so I found it could really skew either the schedule or finances. Besides, Monday is currently my busiest teaching day, and I didn’t want to deal with rescheduling so many students.
Robin Keehn, Washington
My primary teaching day for more than 23 years has been Monday. I do my best to move those students to a different day on major holidays and I don’t take the “little” ones off. They all know that is the expectation going on.
Joan H., Canada
I operate a bit differently with my Monday students. They get 36 weeks of lessons between September and June instead of 40 weeks like students on other days of the week, due to the four holiday Mondays as Anna mentioned above. They pay the same monthly fee, but only need to pay for nine months (September to May) instead of ten months (September to June) and that makes up for the difference of four fewer lessons.
Joy O., Alabama
For Monday holidays, I generally tell students I’m planning to teach. If they choose to take off, I let them have a makeup credit, and we schedule a makeup lesson. Some students choose to take off and do a makeup, some students choose to come to lessons.