Classroom and Payment Policies

Payment and Refunds
Arrive Early
What to Bring
Snacks and Drinks
Missing a Class
Making Up Missed Classes
Child Attending With Nanny or Sitter
Bringing Non-Sibling Children Together
Adult Guests
Child Guests
Holidays
Inclement Weather
Teacher E-mail Links

PAYMENT AND REFUNDS:
A minimum of $50 deposit is due within 1 week of your enrollment. Failure to make a timely deposit could result in the loss of your space in class.

The remaining balance of your tuition is due 1 week before the first class.

Full refund: withdrawal 2 weeks before the first class.
Refund minus $50 deposit: withdrawal 3 days before the first class.
No refund: withdraw less than 3 days before the first class.

We try to be as flexible and fair as possible with refunds--understanding that sometimes situations arise that are beyond your control.

However, due to the limited size of Music Together classes, your reservation and subsequent forfeiture of a space can significantly affect our ability to hold a full class and pay our expenses.

ARRIVE EARLY:
Please arrive 5 to 10 minutes before class begins so that you and your child will have plenty of time to remove coats, etc, and get settled before class begins. We will begin and end class on time, regardless of late arrivals.

Keep in mind that most young children will not really relax into a class environment until the 3rd or 4th class. Even though your child may not participate during the first or second or even third class, he or she will still be taking in and processing a lot of information through observation in class. Parents will usually start seeing musical behaviors from their children at home long before those behaviors occur in music class.

WHAT TO BRING:
Your new Music Together materials, including songbooks and CDs, will be brought by the teacher to the first class. Wear clothing that you can crawl, jump, and dance in, and be ready to shed those shoes.

Please do not bring your child's toys or instruments from home. If you or another adult in your family plays an instrument, no matter what your skill level, we'd love for you to bring it to a class! Contact your teacher directly to make plans.

SNACKS AND DRINKS:
Please feel free to nurse your child in class. Water in covered containers is fine.

Please do not bring food or other drinks into classrooms.

IF YOU MUST MISS A CLASS:
Notify Kari and your teacher (links at the bottom) by e-mail as far in advance as possible if you know you will miss a class. We can then make your spot available to a family who needs a make up or to a visiting family. We understand if you have an emergency, you won't be able to give advance notification, but your teacher will appreciate an e-mail or a phone call if you can manage it.

MAKING UP MISSED CLASSES:
Your tuition pays for 10 classes.

Families are allowed two makeups per semester. Makeups are available at any location classes are offered. Makeups do not carry over from previous semesters. When possible, we will offer 11 weeks of classes each Session. Inclement weather cancellations during the Winter Session sometimes make this impossible. Classes will fill on a first-come/first-served basis. Families are welcome to attend a class at any location as long as there is a space. However, you MUST SIGN UP in advance.

To schedule a make-up, log in to your account, click the MY CLASSES tab, and then click SCHEDULE MAKE-UP to the left of your class. If you have trouble, contact Kari.

1) Let us know in advance when you are going to miss a class so that we can make that space available to others.

2) Reserve your make-ups early...as soon as you know you need them. Any family is welcome to attend any class that has space.

3) Please be patient. We go farther than most child education programs to offer make-ups, and like many of you, our teachers are parents who also work outside the home. We'll do our best to keep up!

4) Be generous with other families. If you miss 3 classes, and one or more of your absences is due to vacation travel, consider giving up one of your make-ups to give space to families who may experience long runs of illness or who live in regions that recover slowly from poor driving conditions.

CHILD ATTENDING WITH NANNY OR SITTER

We welcome babysitters, nannies, grandparents, and other care-giving adults in our Music Together classes! We value the participation of these grown-ups, who function as important caregivers and role models for the little ones in their care. The parent should enroll the child(ren), and then make sure to send to Kari the name, phone number, and e-mail address of the caregiver so that we can send him or her important follow-up information from classes, snow cancellation notices, or other relevant information.

Parents, we urge you to play the CD and look at the songbook with your child. Get the sitter to show you your child's favorite songs and the motions or games that go along. Listen to the CD with your child, and sing your favorite quiet song as a lullaby each night. Even if you never make it to a single Music Together class, YOU are still your child's most important teacher and role model, and your child will get the greatest educational benefit from our classes by experiencing fun musical experiences with you throughout the week. We encourage you to join us for class any time there's an opportunity - a day off work, a make-up class at a different time, etc.

BRINGING NON-SIBLING CHILDREN TOGETHER

In recent years, we've had moms bring children they are babysitting along with their own children to the same Music Together class. We celebrate these situations where families are helping each other make schedules work and give children great early childhood musical experiences!

If you wish to bring multiple children who are members of different households to one class, then each family must still enroll their child(ren) separately so that they are not enrolled as siblings. Music Together is in its most fundamental essence a family-based program. We base our curriculum and teaching philosophies and methods on the research-supported belief that the parents or primary caregivers in a child's life are the child's most important teachers during the early years.

Therefore, it is essential that each set of parents needs to have access to the songbook and CDs that we offer as part of a full tuition so that they can support what we do in our short little 45-minute class through musical experiences together the rest of the week. If a child attends class with a nanny or relative who is not the parent, then it's even more important for the parent to also have the materials at home and use them throughout the week. There's a more thorough explanation here.

ADULT GUESTS:
Both parents, grandparents and caregivers are welcome to attend class at any time – no need to ask. Whole family music making in your home is extremely valuable to your child's musical development, and attending class occasionally helps the other family members to join in at home. Strongly encourage adult guests to wear comfy clothes and participate with us. Parents and other beloved adults are the most important teachers in your child's life. It makes a huge impact on a child to see these beloved adults singing, moving, and enjoying music.

CHILD GUESTS:
All child guests must be approved by the TEACHER in advance of class. Because of our limited class size, a child guest may be turned away if her attendance was not approved ahead of time. We can usually accommodate older siblings on the occasional school holiday--please ask your teacher. Child guests should be encouraged to participate or to watch from a comfortable distance. To minimize distractions and optimize the learning environment, we ask that guests not bring in other activities (books, hand-held video games, etc) to use during class.

If a child guest will attend more than 2 classes during the Session, he will need to enroll in the class or pay a guest fee for each visit. Visitation spots are available on a first come, first serve basis.

HOLIDAYS:
There will be no break in classes for holidays. We do NOT follow the public schools holiday schedule. There will be classes on Martin Luther King, Jr. day. If you prefer not to attend a class on a holiday, notify Kari Richmond in advance.

INCLEMENT WEATHER:
If the forecast for your class day is questionable...

1) Please e-mail your teacher about your thoughts on driving to class. Your teacher will check e-mail through 8 AM on class day. Teacher links below.
2) Check your e-mail between 8 AM and 8:30 AM to see whether your class will be held. We will also post the decision on our homepage.

We do NOT necessarily cancel classes if schools are closed or delayed.
We will cancel class if more than 4 families in each class can't make it due to road conditions or if the teacher can't get to class. We will make a decision based on your feedback and our own feelings about driving at least one hour before the class start time and e-mail the decision to everyone. Please keep an eye on your e-mail in the morning so that you don't wind up driving to class only to find it's been canceled.

Older siblings whose schools are closed are welcome to tag along if we hold classes!

Teacher E-mail Links