Grrrr, Grrrr, GRRRR! I spent all that time fretting over making up my T & C's and it appears it was in vain. 90% of my pupils are away the first week of the October break (next week) when I am teaching and they are all back the second week when I'm off. I've ended up with 14 re-schedulded lessons in Nov which is going to run me ragged or I would lose about £150, and 4 exam pupils with only 1 lesson before their exam after 2 weeks off. The whole point of the T & C's was to make my life easier and so far, not so good. If any of my remaining pupils tell me today they are away I'm going to have to tell them I don't have time or space to re-schedule, which the parents aren't going to be happy about. Only 1 of my 17 pupils had no qualms in just forfeiting the lesson.
I should have calculated more carefully, as billing for 4 week blocks has landed up that the next payment is due in the first week of the hols (bad planning or what) so everyone just thinks they won't need to pay for that week. I'm barely going to get all the re-schedules caught up with and we'll be in to the Festive season fiasco where it will all start over again.
Between this and the mother of my 6 year old pupil (who has never done ANY work from one week to the next. 4 months on and can't name a single note), feeling that she is entitled to invade my sitting room with her other 2 children, while her daughter is having her lesson in the other room. One week I came out to find her sleeping on my sofa and the kids watching the TV!
Sorry for the long winded rant, but I'm totally sick fed up.

Don't have an advice or help right now, but poor you! Here, have one of these:

I think we've all been there to some extent or another!
I only give out bills three times a year, at the beginning of the three main school terms, and even then there are problems about them still being on holiday or whatever for that first weeks for which the bill is issued. It doesn't seem so bad they choose to miss a lesson once the bills are issued, but it's hard to deal with it when they arrive the next week to be handed a bill for a lesson that they've already missed. One ot two is easy to reschedule but you seem to have got the problem on a pretty big scale! Why not just bill them regardless, and say that you'll do your best to give extra time at some stage in the future when it's needed - in the run-up to an exam, for instance? I know it's not ideal, but if you explain that you simply can't afford just to let your income drop when so many pupils miss lessons, and sound like you're willing to accomodate if you can, then they might just let it go without complaint. In the past I've put a friendly note in with the bill on these occasions, and it's been accepted okay. Sometimes the parents will remind me at a later date that I 'owe' a lesson, and sometimes they won't. And sometimes I'll suggest a time myself when I think it would be beneficial. We all know, as teachers, too, which of our pupils (or parents) make a habit of messing us around, and which ones avoid doing this, so that's how to prioritise who to accomodate in return!

Sorry I'm not more helpful. The tempting answer is to read the riot act, but in reality this can mean cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Thanks for your words of wisdom. I have re-schedulded the ones that are off so far, but any others have left it too late to tell me, so they,ve had it. Some did ask me to remind them what the 'rules' were now, but many didn't, and I don't know whether that's because they haven't bothered to read the T & C's or that they have chosen to ignore them and hope I won't notice. I feel maybe I'm not tough enough, but when you're lacking in a waiting list, you are treading a thin line. It always makes me feel like packing in when people are happy to swan off on holiday 3 times a year, but won't stump up £11 for a missed lesson. It kind of makes you realise how little people think of music teachers really. They are just like glorified babysitters, who are used on an as and when required basis.

Poor you - sorry it's getting you down. The joys of being a private teacher!! But with regard to the 6-year old's family - this is just not on. It may be difficult to stop the mother thinking they can invade your home in this way, but I think you have to do it. I frequently have parents (sometimes plus younger siblings) sitting in, but they are in the same room as me and are there to listen to the lesson in order to help with practice at home. If they don't want to be part of the lesson, they wait in the car, or drop the child off and return later.

Difficult ...

I don't really know what advice to give, since I teach through holidays etc. because most of my students are adults. But of course not all. I simply don't make up for lessons missed because of holidays. Students (or their parents) tell me in advance they will be away, and that's it. I don't charge termly or monthly, but hourly, so they don't pay for the missed lessons either. I always found this the best solution.

Could you by any chance take the schoolholidays completely out of your schedule if you mainly teach children ad plan your own holidays accordingly in the long run? Many teachers who mainly teach schoolkids seem to find this solution the best. No tuition during the hols and no make-up lessons for it either.

If that isn't possible, you could simply start to not make up for lessons missed for such reasons.

But it is all down to your personal situation of course, which I can't really judge ...

Hmmm, poor you.

The issue of using 'the other room' is a difficult one. I only allow it when the parent is actually a family friend and is willing to chat to my own children.

Otherwise they either drop them off and come back, sit in the car, or go for a walk. Parents would be welcome to sit in the teaching room, but none do.

Could you put the other room out of bounds in some way? Maybe you can suddenly find that your insurance only covers the teaching room, there's no way you can allow them to use other parts of your house I've used this as a reason for not having people sitting around in my back garden.

This is something I never allow as I feel the rest of the house is my private space. My pupil's parents either wait outside in the car or if it is really cold will come into my muisc room with me. If I had a bigger house I may then have a waiting area but it certainly would not be in my sitting room where my daughter would want to be when she comes in from college and hubby collapses in after a long day at work. I always make this clear from day one.

Make up a reason if necessary, otherwise it's too intrusive having people in other parts of your house.

I haven't yet dealt with the 'intruder' yet, but I did put out letter yesterday proposing a change to the T & C's in that after Xmas the fees would go up by £1.00 per lesson and that there would now be 2 weeks off at Xmas, Easter and October, but still only 4 off at summer. i also offered lessons at a reduced rate during hols if required and time allowed. The response was an overwhelming yes, which is great. No more re-scheduling and I'm financially a little better off. There's nowt as queer as folk!

Actually, I like shunting them out into the garden. My teaching room doubles as my dining room, and opens up onto the living room. There's usually no-one else at home when I'm teaching, so parents/children as applicable are welcome to wait in the living room, but there are far fewer distractions if they're in the garden - for a start, I can close the patio door behind me, and I don't get anywhere near as many distractions from parents or offspring if they're outside and the pupil and I are inside.

Perhaps I should make the most of putting them in the garden and leave some secateurs and the lawnmower out, and encourage waiting parents to use them

I have only got the one parent who comes in and she is a family friend. Last week she even helped my daughter to cook lasagne for her tea!

Its nice to be able to be magnanimous and invite parents in when it really is too cold to sit in the car but its only possible to do that if they are already respectful and wait outside!