Many of the music teachers we talk to change their teaching schedules for the summer months. Without the pressures of school, teaching hours can be more flexible. Would you like to schedule all of your students in the morning hours? Teach students more than once a week? In the summer months, this kind of scheduling flexibility is possible.
Here are 4 things to think about when creating your summer music teaching schedule.
What are your financial goals for the summer?
Summertime can be a tradeoff between making money through work and taking time off to enjoy family and vacations. Do you need to make the same amount of money over the summer that you make the reset of the year? Can you make less? Do you want to make more?
Depending on your answers to these questions, you may need to find more students to teach during the summer, or you may want to propose to your students that they take more than one lesson a week and progress faster. Or perhaps you can give yourself more time away from teaching and take advantage of a slower pace during the summer.
What are your vacation goals for the summer?
Do you already have a trip or time off planned for the summer months? Planning your vacations ahead of time means you don't have to scramble to change your music teaching schedule for a last minute trip. You may also want to build some time off into your calendar, even if you don't have a trip or specific vacation planned.
What are your goals for your students for the summer?
Are there any competitions, camps or recitals that you need to help your music students prepare for? Summer is often a time when students are preparing for something specific and might require some additional coaching or lessons.
Or perhaps you want to allow your students to explore different kinds of repertoire over the summer. Or tackle a single piece that's been on their bucket list. Because it's a specific time period with more flexible demands, summer is a good time for your students to take on special projects.
What times of day do you want to teach?
Some of your students may be attending camps or day care over the summer months, and parents work schedules may limit when they can come to lessons. But generally, students' summer schedules are more flexible than during the school year. This allows you to shift lessons to different times of the day.
Perhaps you'd like to consolidate all of your lessons to just 3 or 4 days a week, giving you more free days in your summer weeks. Or perhaps you'd like to consolidate them just to the morning hours.
After you've considered your answers to these questions, be sure to communicate clearly to your students and their parents about your goals for the summer. Listen to your students and parents; what are their goals for the summer? Knowing what you and your parents want to get out of the summer music learning experience will help all to have a restful and happy summer.
