Surviving the Summer

For the past few years I've notice the trend that about 1/2 of my students take the summer off.  I usually pick up a couple students during the summer and some of them will continue in the fall. The students who do continue during the summer usually have vacations, so my summer income is rather lean.  What do you do to survive the summer?  Do you "require" you students to take summer lessons?  Do you take on another job?

Economy and Money

I'm wondering, fellow music teachers, how has the economy affected you?  I have had one student discontinue lessons in part because of parent job loss.  I have another family that has had to cut back to every-other-week lessons because of job loss.  What have you seen?

On an another note related to money - I have a student who has not paid for a month of lessons (actually the same student who is not longer studying with me).  In my last discussion with the mother, she said she would drop of a check, but did not follow through with that.  I'm guessing I'll probably "forgive" the debt in this case.  What would you do?

Piano Teacher Blog

I am excited about the possibilities of this blog.  Teaching private music lessons is in many ways a lonely profession, since I am not in a school building each day with many other teachers.  I hope to connect with other teachers through my blog (and the blogs of others).  I would like to be able to share ideas, ask questions and get feedback from other teachers.  But for today, getting this all set up is enough!  More to come!