Instructors - do you give lessons in your own home?

[lm183902]

I am wanting to start giving some private beginner/intermediate lessons, and am wanting to know if it is a good idea to give lessons from your own home. Unfortunately, due to the way the world is these days, my concern is the liability of having a stranger/young child in my home with no chaperone. Do any of you have any suggestions about how to possibly approach this in a safe way. IIs it better to go to the student's home? Should I just find a music store?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bwv1013]

after several years of teaching in students homes, i ended up teaching in a studio and it really is the only way to go in my opinion. while doing in-home lessons was a good start, i started noticing that the casual vibe was a bit TOO casual... people would cancel last minute, "take a month off for vacation," etc., so it was hard to keep a steady income going. also, unless you build a list of clients that are literally neighbors, travel time between lessons really eats up your day and gas. when your students come to your location you save time and money. now that i'm centralized i can do 6 consecutive lessons in the same time it would take me to do 4 if i drove to students' homes. over the course of a weekly schedule this REALLY adds up, not to mention my stress level has gone way down.

i've never taught out of my own home, most people i know of that do are piano teachers but it will obviously work with any instrument. your concerns about unattended minors are valid, and i would recommend some very specific policies to cover your end of things when it comes to working with kids.

whichever route you take here are some guidelines that have helped me over the years:

payment: be very upfront about your rates and your expectations for attendance - make them pay for a month in advance and charge them based on enrollment rather than attendance; i.e. if they cancel a lesson last minute or decide not to show they don't magically get to keep their money or have "credit" for another lesson. It may seem harsh but it will weed out the flakes and keep everyone respectful of your time. The vast majority of my clients understand this perfectly and they simply show up every week as scheduled and we have a great time.

supervision: if you do teach in home (yours or students), have each client sign a written contract stating that a parent must be in the home for the duration of the lesson if the student is a minor. A friend of mine did this and told me that parents were quite understanding of his policy.

like i mentioned before, i would recommend a good studio/music store to teach in if at all possible. you drive to one place and your students come to you, it's a known business which will attract clients for you, and all of the "official policy" stuff i mentioned is usually already in place for the establishment so you can just focus on teaching your students with a minimum amount of administrative hassle. probably the biggest benefit of teaching in a studio is being surrounded by adequate materials: cd's, sheet music library, stereo, computer/printer, etc. i found it impractical to run around to people's houses with much more than a bass/guitar on my back and maybe a book or two.

sorry for the long reply, i hope I didn't bore you with superfluous info. i love teaching music and it's a great job if you do it right so i am always eager to help my colleagues. i hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. good luck!

[Thunderthumbs73]

Originally Posted by lm183902

I am wanting to start giving some private beginner/intermediate lessons, and am wanting to know if it is a good idea to give lessons from your own home. Unfortunately, due to the way the world is these days, my concern is the liability of having a stranger/young child in my home with no chaperone. Do any of you have any suggestions about how to possibly approach this in a safe way. IIs it better to go to the student's home? Should I just find a music store?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I like teaching out of my home for a number of reasons.
a.) I save huge on gas, considering the high costs of gas.
b.) I have all my music CDs to draw from (more than my iPod).
c.) I play other instruments in my lessons (drums/guitar/keys) if/as relevant.
d.) The convenience of a, b, and c.

I get a decent feel from talking to people via email and phone before any lessons are to occur. I so far have found people to be trustworthy and things have been safe. I trust my gut. If yours says that there could be a problem, pay attention to that voice.

[wilsonNC]

Originally Posted by lm183902

I am wanting to start giving some private beginner/intermediate lessons... Do any of you have any suggestions about how to possibly approach this in a safe way... .

I know a guy in NC who gives lessons at home and online thru a web site dedicated to the purpose. He gives lessons to people all over the globe - which I think is cool. The cost of the lesson is offset by the reduced cost of getting there.

[Traver]

Wow, sounds like you need to go through a bunch of paranoid hassle to teach in the US.
My teacher simply teaches at his home. Our lesson schedule is somewhat flexible, because he's an active musician and sometimes gigs/band practice get in the way. We used to have the lessons at the local conservatory where he was studying, but it's a lot better to practice at his house, because there we can use his computer for stuff like playing/transcribing songs as well as access to a drum machine/other instruments etc.
If I were to start giving lessons myself, I'd definitely do it at my own place as well, although I'd probably set up a little place specifically designed for it.

[bassandbeyond]

In addition to the above mentioned advantages of teaching at home, you also avoid having to pay rent/split the tuition for an outside studio, thus raising your net hourly pay. I have one small room of my house set aside for teaching, with a separate entrance so students don't have to come traipsing through my whole house.

If you do decide to teach at an outside store/studio, make sure that they are really diligent about keeping your schedule tight, so that you don't wind up with a half hour unpaid break every time a student cancels. And, by the way, the risk of being alone with a minor student unfortunately is not eliminated by teaching at a store (you're still in that room alone together), so I wouldn't consider that a factor in this decision.

[VroomVroom]

Not to add to any paranoia and conspiracy, but if I got back into the teaching game there's no way I'd do it at home. Is the risk of liability incredibly small? Youbetcha. But one lawsuit and you're wiped out. Maybe it's just another function of owning a home - I never gave this a second thought when I was renting - but now I'd definitely work out of a studio that already had the logistical and overhead issues addressed.

[lm183902]

Thanks for the great replies guys. This is all really helpful stuff. I'm still deciding on what route to go, but I'm thinking a store may be my best bet, as I've gotten absolutely no Craigslist response. Any suggestions on a good, inexpensive way to advertise?