Short answer
Treat a makeup as a credit, not just a calendar event. Give each eligible student a tracked credit with an expiry and a per-term limit, then let them rebook within your tutor and room availability. Tying makeups to credits — instead of a spreadsheet — keeps student balances, tutor pay, and capacity in sync automatically.
Why makeups are harder than they look
A makeup looks like a single rescheduled lesson, but it touches four things at once: the student's balance (did they already pay for it?), tutor pay (who gets paid for the new session?), room and group capacity (is there space?), and parent communication (does everyone know?). A calendar event tracks none of that — which is why makeups are where spreadsheets quietly fall apart.
Set clear makeup rules first
Before tooling, decide the policy. Vague makeup rules create endless one-off exceptions:
- Who's eligible — e.g., families who cancelled within the window, but not no-shows.
- How many makeups are allowed per term.
- An expiry window (e.g., within 14 days) so credits don't pile up indefinitely.
- Whether a makeup can be a group session or must match the original format.
- That makeups are always subject to tutor and room availability.
Track makeups as credits, not rows in a sheet
The shift that fixes most makeup chaos is to model a makeup as a credit. The balance becomes the source of truth: a credit is issued when one is earned, and it's consumed when the makeup is booked. Everything else follows from that single number.
- Each eligible makeup is one tracked credit with an expiry.
- Booking a makeup decrements the balance automatically.
- Tutor pay follows the actual session that happens.
- Group and room capacity are respected when the makeup is scheduled.
Make rebooking self-serve — within your rules
Let families pick a makeup slot themselves from valid, available times, with admin approval if you want it. That removes most of the back-and-forth without giving up control of the schedule.
Close the loop automatically
When makeups are credits tied to attendance and billing, the loop closes itself: used credits decrement, expired ones lapse on schedule, and what was taught matches what was charged — no month-end spreadsheet reconciliation required.