December Invoice and the Holidays

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!  We had a great time her at the Hudson house with our two sons home, and our oldest's roommate who was stranded here away from home in Montana.  We had a lot of food, but with three big strapping young men at the table, we didn't have the usual mountain of leftovers, and I think that was a good thing.

For lessons this month, I expect to teach my regular schedule through December 16, and only a few lessons on the 17th and 18th.  If I plan on teaching you those days, I will let you know personally.  I will resume lessons on January 4th.

I apologize that we are late with the December invoice.  I have added several new students over the last couple of months, and that always means my schedule is in flux, and that means I can't give accurate information to Paul for the billing, and that delays everything.  Add to that the normal busy-ness of life and we have had a hard time finding time to sit down and get it done.  Hopefully as my schedule is at almost 100% capacity at this point we will be able to do the invoices closer to the first of the month going forward.

If you are a new student, please see these posts for general information about lesson invocies and payments:

https://www.hudsonmusicstudio.com/2020/10/welcome-new-flute-students.html

https://www.hudsonmusicstudio.com/2020/04/how-to-pay-for-lessons-in-remote.html

I look forward to seeing all of my students over the next week and I hope everyone has a great holiday break!

November 4 Holiday and Billing Update

 Good evening!

I want to thank everyone for the kind words outpouring of sympathy during my mom's final days and after her passing.  It meant a lot to me, and makes me appreciate all of you even more.  I know I have the most wonderful students, and they have some wonderful parents!

My husband and I have started working updating our spreadsheet to reflect the lessons I missed while I was away.  If you paid in advance for lessons in October, please know that you will receive credit for any missed lessons on your November invoice.  Also, in the chaos that was trying to schedule lessons through August and September, we discovered an error in our spreadsheet that caused a few of you to be billed for fewer lessons than you received in the July-September timeframe.  We are currently working on a statement that will give you (and us) a full accounting of all lessons and payments since July so that you can double check it for any mistakes.  For most of you, this will not cause any changes, and we apologize for any inconvenience it may cause those whom it does affect.  We thought about just sending the detailed statement to just those few that we knew were affected, but we thought that it might be better to give everyone an opportunity to look at everything to make sure it looks right to you, and that will simplify our billing process.  As I'm sure you can relate, simple seems like a good option right now!  =)

Depending upon your school, you may have a holiday on either November 4, or November 3 and 4. My plan is to see all of my students that week, and so will be rescheduling as needed to accommodate that.  If I need to reschedule your child's lesson that week, I will be in touch.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing all of you this week!

And, again, thanks for everything!

Welcome New Flute Students!

Good Evening!

I so excited to start lessons with your child!  Learning flute and music can be such an exciting and fun adventure.  Thanks for letting me share this time with them!

This is my blog that I use for keeping in touch with all of you about general lesson information.  Posting all of it here makes the emails and texts you receive from me shorter and to-the-point, which if you're like me and reading everything on a phone, I hope you appreciate.  This particular post is just to introduce a few things to you so you know what to expect going forward.

First, you should know that my husband, Paul, helps me with this blog and with my billing.  So, if you email or text me with a question about your invoice, he is probably the one who will respond.  He started helping me with this a few years ago so I could focus on managing my schedule, giving your child the best possible lesson experience, and giving you the feedback you want about your child's progress.

We used try to always bill lessons for the month in advance.  Billing in advance is the common practice for lessons, and most school districts' private lesson guidelines expect that.  I understand the reasoning behind those guidelines, but over the years, I have found that billing in advance causes confusion in some circumstances, especially if we are not able to get the invoices out exactly on the first of the month, and is completely unworkable in the summer when most students don't take lessons on a regular weekly schedule.  So, for the time being, I will be billing at the end of the month.  That means I will expect full payment promptly after I send the invoice.  I am very flexible, however, in making payment arrangements with you if you prefer to pay week-to-week, on the 20th, at the end of the month, etc.  Just let me know what payment arrangements work for you, and we'll make it work.

Flexibility is one of my hallmarks when it comes to many aspects of scheduling and billing.  Over 20 years of experience teaching lessons in schools has taught me to expect the unexpected.  There are always unexpected interruptions in our schedule. It used to be fire drills and picture days, but we often have unexpected testing days and the like anymore.  Of course, we still have doctors appointments and the usual life-happens type of stuff.  So, I plan with flexibility in my schedule, and will rearrange things to make sure your child gets a lesson every week to the best of my ability.  That means, occasionally, I will switch your child's lesson day to make that all work.  I do keep track of each lesson your child takes, and then on the invoice the following month, you will see an accounting of the dates your child received lessons.  If, for some reason, your child receives more or less lessons than what you have paid for, you will see a credit or charge for that on the next invoice.

I accept various forms of payment, and I mention those on the invoices.  I have a blog post that covers all of the different payment options here: https://www.hudsonmusicstudio.com/2020/04/how-to-pay-for-lessons-in-remote.html

I hope this helps you understand the billing and payments.  Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.

And, as always, thanks for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child.

Flute Lesson Invoices: September and looking forward to October

 Good Evening!

This is Paul, Lynne's husband, and as most of you already know, I help Lynne with the billing for her lessons and with this blog.  Lynne, by necessity, spends a lot of time communicating with you about schedules and your child's progress.  That personal touch on things is important to her, so last year I started helping her so she could focus on giving all of you the best lesson experience she can.  So, for those of you who are new, when you get your bill or ask questions related to that, often, but not always, I may be the one replying to your message.

Of course, scheduling and billing go together, and at this time of year the scheduling is always a little crazy.  With almost all students doing remote lessons right now, it's been an exceptionally challenging year for her, so we are a being a little more flexible with the billing until things settle in.  Of course, when and if the schools transition into a more normal, in-person situation, and she start to see students face-to-face, there will be some more upheaval.  As long as we all remain flexible and understanding, we will get through it all just fine.

So, here's the billing plan for the next few weeks.  If it has to change for some unexpected reason, we will let you know.

• We are billing for September as we solidify weekly lesson times.
• Some of you have already received the September invoice, previously or tonight 
• You will not be billed again until the October invoice.
• If you have not yet received a September invoice AND you have lessons scheduled, you may expect to receive the September invoice sometime over the next few days.
• If you made a payment for any lessons after 8/30, you will see that payment on on the October invoice.
• If you have any questions about those payments, please send a message.
• We will bill for October based upon the schedule that is in place at the end of September.
• That's the most optimistic schedule
• You will receive credit/charges on the November invoice if we miss/add any lessons in October due to schedule changes
• We will try to have all October invoices sent out by October 5th.

Thanks to all of you for being such great parents and having such great kids.  Lynne has been so happy and having a lot of fun meeting with all of them.

Take care!

-Paul

For my students whom I have not seen in a while

 Good Evening!

The time for me to set up my lesson schedule for the coming school year is here.  I know many of you had to stop lessons during the quarantine for any number of reasons, and I completely understand those reasons.  But, since school is starting back up, I did want to check in to see if you were interested in starting up lessons again.  I know for those of you who have been hurt financially by the pandemic, that it still may not be a possibility.  However, I would suggest that you contact your child's band director and see if there may be scholarship money available to help pay for lessons if you are interested.

So please feel free to contact me.  If you're interested in lessons, great!  But if not, still do as I would love to know how all of you are doing.

I am thankful for the time I had teaching your child, and I hope and pray that you are all doing well!

Flute Lessons - August 2020 and Beyond

 Good Evening!

This post is a little long, so I apologize for that.  But please bear with me so we can all be on the same page.  There's important information in there, though, so please read carefully! =)

I hope that as we are preparing to go back to school, or have gone back to school at this point for some of you, that everyone is doing well.  These are certainly unprecedented times, and I know we have all had challenges adapting to the changes over the last 5 months.  Like I have always said, it's important to be flexible.  If you told me a year ago that I would have to be teaching all of my lessons as well as several masterclasses each week remotely, I probably would have laughed.  I had never even considered that before this spring.

So I am very thankful for your flexibility now that we (yes, my husband, Paul, is still helping with the billing) are finally billing for August lessons.  We have delayed billing as my schedule each week fluctuated a lot, and we wanted to make sure we were billing as accurately as possible.  We will try to bill in advance like we always have as much as possible going forward.  So, as soon as I have a schedule for your child that I feel fairly confident that won't change, I will notate that and then Paul will generate the invoice for September the next time he works on them.  And, for those who have them scheduled, lessons for 8/31 are included on this invoice.  If we miss that day for some reason, you will get credit on the September invoice. 

And, as I am already starting to add new students for the coming school year, and for now lessons are still online-only, I would like for you to review my previous post about payment info. I have updated it with all of the latest information.  If you need to know where to send PayPal, Venmo, Bill Pay, or personal checks, just send me a text or email, and I'll share that with you individually.

I have already started teaching remote lessons during school for a few campuses.  The platform and procedures for some of these are different than what we have been using to date, and it varies by the district and campus.  As I work through these changes, I will let everyone know what the procedure will be for your child at their school.  If you are still taking remote lessons from home, however, we will continue to use what has worked in the past.  And for those lessons, and for those who are new, please remember a couple of important items to make lessons work best for everyone:

• Please wait for me to initiate the lesson on Facetime, Zoom, or whatever platform we are using.
• I only schedule a minimum amount of time between lessons, so I am probably teaching someone else right before your lesson. Sometimes lessons run a little late. I admit it!
• If you text me or try to initiate the lesson, you're probably interrupting someone else's lesson.
• If I have difficulty connecting with you, I will call or text or email you to see what the issue is.

There is one new procedure that applies to EVERYONE to make this work: ALL LESSON TIMES ARE BASED UPON CELL PHONE TIME, not the clock on your computer or on the clock on the wall at school.  Sorry, but the school clocks are all over the map.  I can only work around so many variables!  In any case, I will make sure that the band directors know that this is what I'm planning, and I will make sure that the time I schedule your lesson falls within your band period at school.

As far as scheduling is concerned, I am going to try, as I did throughout the spring and summer, to keep my schedule as compact and efficient as possible.  I will try and fill up my Wednesdays first, then Tuesday and Thursday, then Monday, and then Friday.  I will also be setting aside some time in the early mornings and some times on a couple of evenings as I expect coordinating the remote-during-school lessons may not always work out for everyone.  If I haven't scheduled your lessons yet, I will be in touch over the next week or so, but feel free to reach out to me as well.

I am looking forward to seeing all of my students in the coming weeks!

And, as always, thank you for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child!

Flute Lesson Invoices for July

Good evening!

Well, if there is a new "normal" for working around school schedules right now, that normal could be summed up as, "Wait and see!" couldn't it?  I apologize for not getting the July statements out earlier.  Every summer I get contracted to do camps, sectionals, and clinics by various band programs throughout the area, including this summer, but there has been a great deal of uncertainty as to whether or not the camps were going to happen, and what the schedules would look like if they did have them.  Working with schools in 4 different school systems meant there has been a lot of waiting and seeing.  I think at this point, though, I have at least a good idea of what is happening this month now (finally heard from that last school today!) so now we can finally set schedules! Yay!

I have billed through the end of July assuming that I will be available to teach any student who wants lessons every week, so the invoice shows the number of lessons I expect we will have, including any exceptions you have already told me about.  If you need to make a change, or if you end up changing your plans here in the next couple of weeks, no problem!  Just let me know, and we will adjust as needed.  As always, double check for mistakes on my part.

I may need to change the schedule slightly on a few days (not sure exactly when yet) and I will let you know individually if we need to change yours.  Right now, I expect very little of that to happen.

Thanks for your patience, and, as always, thank you for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child!

Flute Lesson Invoices for 5/26-6/30

Good afternoon!

Summer lessons are always a challenge for billing purposes, and since my husband and I are working together on this, and we are trying to take into account the many scenarios that come up with summer lessons with the system we are developing, it has taken us a little longer this month to get the invoices together. You will also see that the invoice for this month looks a little different.  Here's what you need to know:

• The May invoice only included lessons through 5/21.  If you received a lesson the following week, you will be charged for it on this invoice.
• We have included any payments we have received up through today so that you know where you stand at this time.  So if you paid ahead for June, that payment is included.
• Please double check for any mistakes on our part.  I have included the payment type to help you.
• CH is a personal check followed by the check number
• BP is a BillPay check followed by the last 4 digits of the check number. 
• PP is a PayPal payment followed by the date it was sent.
• V  is a Venmo payment followed by the date it was sent.

As we usually do, please follow any payment arrangements we already have in place.  And please send an email or text if you have any questions or find any errors.  If you have any questions about how to make payments, please read this post and then contact me if you have any more questions.

And, as always, thanks for letting my share my love of music and flute with your child!

Summer Lesson Scheduling and Billing information

Good evening!

I'm setting up my schedule for June and July lessons at this time, and in order for it all to work efficiently, I need to hear from you if you are interested in having your child take any lessons in that time frame.  I was hoping, as I'm sure you all were as well, that we might have the opportunity to meet in person at the schools if they opened up.  If that does happen, we will adjust accordingly, but for now we will continue video lessons as we have been.

I had a much stronger response for lessons last week than I anticipated, and I even heard from a few of you that had paused lessons when the stay-at-home orders took effect.  I can't tell you how happy I am to hear from those students!  This means that I will be keeping my schedule more open for the first couple of weeks until I know who is and isn't taking lessons for the summer.

My plan is to have full days teaching on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, using Thursdays for those that I can't fit in, and avoiding Mondays and Fridays except when there is just not another day that we can make work. I will try to keep the 12:30 - 1:30 hour free so I can have lunch with my family.

If possible, I would like for you to look at your schedule for at least June, July too if you can, and let me know what weeks you would like to have lessons, and what days and time-ranges will work for you.  It doesn't have to be the same day each week; you can switch it to accommodate your schedule as needed.  If your not sure of your plans and would prefer to schedule weekly, that will be fine too.  And, of your plans change, that's not a problem, just let me know.  The nice thing about doing online lessons is that, if you wanted to, we could even have lessons while you are out of town as long as you have a device and internet access where you are.

Once I hear from you, I will begin billing for lessons according to the schedule we set up with the information you provide.  If you took lessons last week, I will include those in the June invoice.  If you are unable to make a schedule and want to set up lessons week to week, your invoicing will happen a little differently, and I'll communicate that with you when I hear form you.

If you are stopping lessons for the summer, please know that I will miss you, and I hope you are safe, well, and happy!

I look forward to hearing form you.  And, as always, thanks for letting me share my love of flute and music with your child,

Flute lessons for May and Summer - and Venmo, maybe?

Hello Parents and Students!

It's hard to believe it already May!  And it's also hard to believe that we've been apart for so long.  Video lessons are not something that I ever expected to be doing, but I'm glad that we have this technology to keep us connected.  I know that the time I have spent with my students online has helped me through this difficult time, and I'm sure many of them feel the same way.

Before I discuss May's lesson schedule, I wanted to let everyone know that I am available for lessons over the summer.  My schedule will be fairly flexible, and I can accommodate your plans for vacations, etc.  We can have a set time every week, or we can just schedule a lesson whenever it's convenient for you.  I am going to try to keep my lessons to one or two days a week, but I will be glad to schedule on different days if that works best for you.  The nice thing about doing video lessons this summer is that we don't have to work around when the school buildings are open.  Please let me know if you plan on taking summer lessons, and I will be in touch to start setting that up later this month.

Right now, I plan to keep our current schedule through Thursday May 21 as that is the last day of school for most of you.  If you are currently taking lessons, and have already told me otherwise, your invoice for May will reflect that.  I WILL be available starting May 26 for lessons, but we will include those in the "Summer" category and will bill for those separately.

Good news for those that have been asking: we have signed up for Venmo and should be able to start accepting those payments in a few days.  The last time we checked (which was years ago) we were not able to sign up for Venmo with our bank.  Supposedly that restriction is no longer there, so we're giving it a shot.  I will still accept payments from all of the usual sources, of course.  If you have any questions about those, please check out my previous post about payments here.  If you would like to use Venmo going forward, please let me know, and I will give you the needed information as soon as we have confirmed that it is working.

I hope everyone is doing well, and that you are staying happy, safe, and well in the exciting transition back to normal.

And, as always, thank you for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child!

Lesson Scheduling Going Forward

Good Evening!

I apologize that there was some confusion about the schedule this week as we did not send out reminders and I had a few students that did not expect to have lessons today.  From this point forward, I expect that we will keep the same lesson times each week unless you need to change for some reason.  I am always willing to do what I can to accommodate your schedule, and I realize that during this time that things may change from week to week.  So, unless you need to change, your child's lesson will be at the same time we originally planned for last week.  If you need to change, please let me know as soon as you can.  If you are scheduling lessons on a week to week basis, that will continue as we have discussed.

Also, please make sure your child is set up and ready for their lesson a few minutes early.  Since I have shortened up the time between lessons, and the technical difficulties are becoming less of an issue, it is important that we start very close to on time so that I don't run late for my next lesson.  Still, if I am running a little late, please be patient.  I will initiate the meeting as soon as I am done with the previous lesson.

While we all miss meeting in person, I'm glad to have this chance to work with my students, and the video part of it is fun.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

And thanks for allowing me to share my love of flute and music with your child.

Lessons for the Week of 4/5

Good afternoon!

For this week, I will try to keep lessons at the same time that we had them this past week.  However, there were some technical challenges, and some last minute time changes, so not all of the lessons ended up where we planned.  That was expected, but I'm sure for some of you it was not the most convenient.  My apologies for that.

Please double check the schedule I have sent you to make sure that it works for you.  If you need a different time for any reason, please let me know as soon as you can and I will work it out.  Please remember: BE FLEXIBLE.  😊

Also, I have put up a newsletter on my website with information about how to pay for lessons for those who may have questions or running onto issues.
https://www.hudsonmusicstudio.com/2020/04/how-to-pay-for-lessons-in-remote.html

And, as always, thanks for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child.

How to Pay for Lessons in a Remote Learning Environment

Good afternoon!

Since I'm not getting to see your child in person for the time being, I know that this has caused some concern about how to pay for your lessons.  This post will contain the most pertinent and recent information, and details about PayPal payments of which you should be aware.  I will not, however, since this site is viewable to thee whole world, be giving any of my personal info that you may need to complete some of the payments.  I will provide that to you personally if you need it.

If you have already been able to send me payments without issue, then you probably don't need to read this, but if issues do come up, you may refer to this if needed.

Personal Checks

This is still our preferred method of accepting payments, but it will require you to send the check to me with your child to the lesson, or in the mail.  Just let me know if you would like to mail a check to me, and I will send you my mailing address.

Bill Pay from your bank

Most banks offer a BillPay service that will withdraw the amount form your checking account, print the check, and send it postage free.  Most of the time, all you need is to give them my name and mailing address, which I will provide to you.  Recently I was asked to give a phone number and email address, and for those you can use the number and address from which you receive notifications from me.  If they ask for bank names or routing numbers, I'm going to have to pass, though.  I hope you understand.

Venmo

I do accept Venmo now. See your invoice for my Venmo username.  Please be sure to include your child's full name on the payment info. 

Zelle

I do accept Zelle now.  See your invoice for my Zelle email address.  Please be sure to include your child's full name on the payment info. 

Don't Send Cash in the Mail

I'm sure that doesn't need explanation.  Just don't do it.  If you are sending cash with your child for me, please put it in an envelope with their name and the amount enclosed written on the outside.

More PayPal Information Than You Probably Want

Below is information that I have sent in the past to those that were using PayPal at the time.  It's long, but it explains clearly my reasons for accepting PayPal the way I do.  The important points for using PayPal are:

• You can avoid fees by using the "Friends and Family/Pay a Person" option
• Use your PayPal balance or a bank account to fund the transaction if you can
• Using a credit card always carries a fee
• Any fees that we incur on our end of the transaction will be charged to you on your next invoice
• Include your child's full name on the transaction

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good Evening!

If you have not and do not plan on ever sending payments through PayPal, you may disregard this message.

I want to say up front how much I appreciate all of you, and love teaching your children.  It's hard for me to send an email like this, so know that I'm not at all upset or even worried, but I do have some important requests to make.  I'll give the short version first, and then explain more after for those who need it.

1. When you send money for lessons through PayPal, please use the Friends and Family (Personal) option.

2. Please be sure to put your child's full name in the "Notes" section.

I know that some of you who are making PayPal payments have done this right every time so far.  But, I have had some that did it right for a while, and then did it incorrectly all of the sudden and vice versa.  So that is why I'm sending this to everyone.  If you don't need further explanation, feel free to stop reading now. =)

Number 2 is the easy one, so let me start with that: If you don't put your child's name in the notes, it can be very difficult for my husband (who is helping me with my billing this year) to credit the payment properly on our spreadsheet, especially if the email address that you are paying from is different than the email address or phone number to which we send your invoice, or if the parent's name is different from the child's.  I have a lot of students this year.  I'm sure you can imagine his confusion since he doesn't know your child like I do, and doesn't always communicate directly with you like I do.

Now to Number 1: When you send the payment using the "Pay a Bill" (Business) option, I get charged a fee, and don't receive the full amount.  The fee is small, and I don't worry about it at all, but since I didn't receive the full amount from you, I am putting that amount on your balance forward for the next month.  So, if you are wondering, "Why did you only credit $X amount when I paid $Y?" this is probably why.  If you pay that to me the next time, I really appreciate it.  If not, I'm not going to make a big deal about it, but it will remain on your invoices.  

I can see where this may be confusing, because, yes, I am sending you a bill, and technically I am in business.  However, unlike other businesses, I do not set the rate at which I am paid for teaching lessons.  The school district or school where your child attends sets the private lesson payment rate, and when I teach lessons, that is the amount I should receive.  I'm sure you agree that it's not right if I teach Sally a lesson and receive $20, but only receive $18.80 from Billy, even though Billy paid the same.

Also, I only offer PayPal a payment option for your convenience in a world where electronic payments are the norm. Our bank is not compatible with Venmo Zelle or many of the other common payments services, so PayPal is our only real option do accommodate this.  It's not a choice that we are completely comfortable with as we have had some unfavorable experiences with PayPal in the past, and we did not do any business through PayPal for several years as a result.  We're not at a point of making any similar decisions right now, but I hope you can understand my reasoning.

If you have any questions or concerns about this at all, please email me back.  Either my husband or I will gladly answer.  We want you to feel comfortable with using PayPal for lesson payments just as much as we want to as well.

I apologize for the very long email.  I hope that it was helpful.

-Lynne and Paul

Flute Lesson Info for April

Good Evening!

Whew!  What an eventful 3 weeks!  I have enjoyed getting to work with so many students through video conferencing.  It's been an interesting learning experience to say the least.

You should have received, along with this notice, your invoice for April.  Right now, I'm planning on keeping the same schedule throughout the month, and keeping everyone on the same days and times as much as possible.  I'm certain that there will be changes along the way, so I really appreciate your continued flexibility.

Finances and Economics-

I know that for some families the current crisis has caused some financial hardship, and I want all of you to know that I completely understand.  It is more important to me that I keep your child in lessons than it is that I get paid right away.  I have always made it my policy to be flexible, both with my schedule, and with payment arrangements with my students. I can make any sort of arrangements with you to help: every-other week lessons, schedule week-to-week lessons as your finances allow, make another arrangement based upon your circumstances.  If you are in such a circumstance, please let me know right away.  I will teach your child as long as I know that we have agreed to a payment arrangement.

Payments-

Since I am not coming to the schools and seeing your child in person, it has caused some issues for those who like to pay with a personal check.  You may pay me by one of these methods:

• Personal Check sent by mail

• BillPay check sent to me by your bank

• PayPal to my flauta email address.  If you use PayPal, please be sure to use the Friends-and-Family option so I do not get charged a fee on my end. I will carry over any charges I receive to your next invoice.

• Let me know if you need any of my information to use one of these services.

• Sorry, my bank is not compatible with other quick-pay apps (like Zelle or Venmo.) I don't know why that is, and, sorry, I'm not going to change banks at this time. 

I look forward to seeing everyone in video lessons!

And, as always, thanks for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child!

Lesson Info for the week of 3/29

Good afternoon!

I hope that everyone is doing well as we start our third week of “stay at home.”  I really miss meeting all of my students in person, but I think we are doing well with video lessons.  In some ways it’s fun using technology in this way, and hopefully all of you are finding it helpful, not just in terms of flute playing, but also with having a routine and something that is normal and familiar.

We had a pretty full schedule this week except for Wednesday.  There were a lot of conflicts on Wednesday, so I left that day clear, but this week, I will be available on Wednesday for anyone that needs it.

Looking forward to this week, and keeping the idea of establishing some normalcy, I am going to plan, for now, to keep everyone on the same day as last week.  I am, however, going to shorten the time between lessons again this week, which will allow me to add more students as I am still receiving new requests.  I have considered, and am still considering, using sign-up genius, or a Google sheet to facilitate signups, but I have a couple obstacles to doing that: depending on the school, my students take 22, 30, or 45 minute lessons, making a standard sign up cumbersome; and I have not set up lessons for several of my students yet for various reasons, and I need flexibility to add them in when or if they choose to do so.

Here’s how it will work for this week:

 

• I am going to set aside 12:30 – 1:30 every day to have lunch with my family
• You will have your lesson on the same day as last week
• If your lesson started before 12:30, it may move a little later
• If your lesson started after 1:30, it may move a little earlier
• If you signed up for two lessons last week, we will keep that in place for now
• If you didn’t sign up for two last week, but want two this week, let me know ASAP
• If the schedule for this week doesn’t work for some reason, let me know ASAP
• I will send out your schedule for this week this evening by the normal method
• BE FLEXIBLE

And some reminders:

 

•  I will send the meeting link or initiate the call for your lesson at the time your lesson starts
•  If you don’t receive the link/call right away, be patient, it’s on the way
•  If I send the link/make the call and you do not reply within a few minutes, I will contact you to see if there is a problem
• You don’t need to send me a reminder or let me know you’re ready right before your lesson time.  I am working with another student and want to give them my full attention.
•  If you try to contact me during my lunch break, I may not respond right away
•  BE FLEXIBLE

I want to thank all of you for being flexible during this time.  You’ve all been great to work with.

And, as always, thanks for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child.

Lesson Info for the week of 3/22

Hello Students and Parents,

Sorry for throwing something new at you in this time of crisis and uncertainty.  My hope is that by setting up this website for the dissemination of non-personal information, it will make it easier on both of us, but especially those that receive information through text messages.  I know that I don't like receiving really long text messages with important information, and I imagine that many of you don't either.  And, since I am using Google Voice for text messaging about lessons, hopefully this will also help keep me under their messaging limit, which I have run afoul of once or twice since switching over. 😁

I am accepting appointments for video lessons this coming week now, but I also need to share a little bit about what we have learned this past week to help us all plan going forward.

This past week has been a whirlwind of stress and unexpected changes for all of us, but I must say that doing video lessons was a highlight for me.  Yes, there were some technical challenges, but we were able to overcome most of those fairly quickly, and I think everyone, including me, had a fun and beneficial experience.  It was definitely a learning experience for us (my husband and I) in terms of the technical challenges.  Here's some points we need to keep in mind going forward:

• I will keep a little additional time between lessons for technical issues, but as we get better at this, and I have more of you sign up, I will need to minimize that so I can fit everyone in.
• It's important that you allow me to initiate all of the "meetings" so that I can finish up one lesson before starting another.
• Sometimes email and text messages are going slow, or don't go through at all.  If you haven't received your meeting invite from me, please be patient.  It's probably on the way.  If I have sent an invite and you haven't joined the meeting yet, I'll contact you to see if there's an issue.
• Skype is still going to be my preferred method for now.  However, Zoom has some neat features that I might want to use, so I am considering that for some future date.
• If your child is trying to do this with a school-issued Chromebook, Google Hangouts seems to be the best option.  I will need your child's gmail or @g address to make that work, so please be prepared with that.
• If you're using external speakers, make sure the volume isn't too loud as it will cause the sound to cut in and out.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I am setting up for this week.  Starting times will be from 9:00 to 3:30.  I may be able to go later on some days, and if I need to I will start earlier.  Please give me a range of days and times to set our lesson, and please be flexible as we may not start right at that time due to the technical issues I described earlier.  Also, I know you will be receiving more meeting requests as we go on for other classes at school, so we may need to change the schedule as we go to accommodate those when they come up.  That being said, please email or text me with your time request(s) at your earliest convenience.

I have received a couple requests for two lessons a week.  As long as I have room in the schedule, I will accept those requests on a first-come-first-served basis.

I may set up a Google Sheet or Survey in the future to help facilitate sign ups, but my hope is that at some point your child's other teachers will have a fairly regular schedule, and then we can have a regular time for lessons each week.

I hope all of you are staying safe, healthy, and happy, and I look forward to seeing all of you this week.

And, as always, thank you for letting me share my love of music and flute with your child.