Makeup & Missed Lessons
Definitions
A makeup lesson is a lesson given to the student outside of their regularly assigned lesson time. Additional time before or after a student’s regularly assigned lesson time is also considered a makeup lesson. Makeup lessons are reserved for when the teacher isn’t available at the regularly assigned lesson time or when lessons have been canceled due to weather related school closings.
A missed lesson is a lesson that the student misses. Missed lessons should not be a regular occurrence. Student illness, deaths in the family, etc., qualify as missed lessons. Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with lesson time. Please email me at least 24 hours before your lesson time.
Students are paying to reserve a consistent weekly lesson time. This means the teacher has already arranged their schedule to be available for the student. Please provide as much notice as possible when missing lessons for non-emergency situations.
Studio Calendar
Lessons are taught the entire year.
Please be aware that I don’t follow area school calendars for breaks or vacation.
Specific dates the teacher isn’t available for lessons are included on the monthly invoice. Makeup lessons are scheduled for students when the teacher is unavailable at the regularly assigned lesson time and the holiday isn’t included on the list below. All makeup lessons will be scheduled by email.
Lessons are not taught the week or week(s) surrounding the following holidays. As a result, makeup lessons are not offered for these holidays:
Easter
Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve & Christmas Day
New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
Student Policy
Students are paying to reserve a consistent weekly lesson time. It is strongly recommended that students review schedules for activities that could conflict with their lesson time. Notice for a missed lesson should be emailed. Please consider doing this several weeks in advance. This allows everyone to plan ahead.
Lessons missed without 24 hours notice and/or just cause will be charged. A charged missed lesson will count as one of the 40 lessons included in the yearly tuition plan. Email notification is used for all charged missed lessons. Genuine emergencies that cause a student to miss a lesson without 24 hours notice are rare and will be forgiven. Those who routinely provide less than 24 hours notice for missed lessons will be asked to discontinue lessons.
Please consult the teacher, several weeks in advance, if the student needs to miss consecutive weeks of lessons. While not ideal, it is important to have a plan for the student to maintain basic skills. Without a practice plan to maintain skills, students who miss consecutive weeks of lessons struggle when they return. This is due to how retention of learned skills declines. It is important that lessons do not become a negative experience for the student after they’ve missed multiple weeks of lessons.
Students on the yearly tuition plan have eight (8) missed lessons to allow flexibility for illness, vacation and other conflicts with lesson time.
Some students need more than eight (8) missed lessons. Additional missed lessons are provided with the understanding that the student is still responsible for paying for all 40 lessons included in the yearly tuition plan. Continued payment holds the student’s regularly assigned lesson time. Stopping payment will result in losing the student’s regularly assigned lesson time.
Makeup lessons are not offered for missed lessons. The only exception is when there are lesson cancellations due to weather related school closings. Lesson cancellation for a weather related school closing must be initiated by the teacher to qualify for a makeup lesson. The teacher will schedule a makeup lesson once the student has missed eight (8) lessons. After the makeup lesson time is completed, the student will have one missed lesson removed from their total. This will be shown on the next invoice.
Requests to temporarily reschedule a lesson time are treated as requests for makeup lessons. These are dependent on the teacher’s schedule and not guaranteed. Email should be used for all requests to temporarily reschedule a lesson time. Alternative lesson times should be clearly stated. Please provide as much notice as possible. Requests to temporarily reschedule a lesson time should be rare.
Illness
Students (and anyone accompanying them) should not attend lessons if they are symptomatic and/or ill.
Please consider staying home if others in your home are ill. This is especially important if someone in your home is contagious.
Students should remain home until they are well enough to attend their lesson without a face mask.
Weather
Weather that causes school closings will result in cancellation of lessons for the day. This will count as a missed lesson.
Inclement weather that causes an early dismissal or a remote learning day is considered a school closing.
Students who have one (1) or more missed lessons due to a lesson cancellation from a weather related school closing qualify for a makeup lesson at a later date. Lesson cancellation must be initiated by the teacher to qualify for a makeup lesson. The teacher will schedule a makeup lesson once the student has missed eight (8) lessons. After the makeup lesson time is completed, the student will have one missed lesson removed from their total. This will be shown on the next invoice.
Teacher Policy
Makeup lessons are scheduled for students when the teacher is unavailable at the regularly assigned lesson time. All makeup lessons will be scheduled by email. Students will be given as much notice as possible if I become ill or have a family emergency that prevents me from teaching.
I do not teach if symptomatic and/or ill. Lessons will not resume until I am well enough to teach without a mask. Email notification will be provided.