Ground school is the pre-flight and familiarairity with the transmitter sticks. Take off, trim both transmitters. I teach to a program. Straight and level (I do the turns), the pattern left and right (they do the turns), figure eights (left and right), then take off and landings. They usually pick up take offs pretty quick. Landings take a lot longer, so we shoot simulated landing approaches so they can practice lining up the runway. I will eventually talk them down to their first landing. Then we do it again concentrating on rudder, it goes much faster this time. During all this time I explain aerodynamics, stall detection, proper climbout, linkage setups and smooth fluid movement on the sticks. And every time they use the wind as an excuse, I correct them and tell them exactly what happened and why it was not the wind. Usually takes 30 to 40 flights to solo. After solo, if they want, we work on emergency handling. I take them up high, roll inverted to a spin and shut the engine off. Then give control back to them. 100% of the time they freeze and I have to take it. This happens about the first two times. Then they eventually figure it out. I have worked with older students that just couldnt pick it up and after almost a year of training, finally give up. They just didnt have the eye hand coordination needed. I stay with them as long as they want, they have to make the decision to give up. Full scale pilots are my worst students. Out of about 10 training requests per month, about 6 keep responding, and 2 or 3 eventually show up at the field ready to go. I prefer they supply their own gear to show how serious they want to be. I explain how to do repairs, and if needed, they can come to my shop and I will explain how to do a more complicated repair. I still work and can only train on weekends. Of the kids younger than 11, none ever finished. Just too impatient. I now tell parents that its not so much the age but maturity I want them to be at before training. I also tell the parents one of them has to be present while they are training, I dont baby sit. They have to be here for an emergency. I currently have a couple of 15 to 16 year olds that will solo the next time or two they come out, and a total of 6 students at this time. But usually 3 show up at once. In spring with the good weather they will ALL show up and we do round robin training so everybody gets a turn. I dont grip or rag on them about when they show up. Doesnt matter to me. This is a hobby and I'm there most weekends anyway.
Edwin