Does anyone have these books? I'd like to see a table of contents, list of required tools, and maybe an example chapter so I can decide whether or not these courses are too expensive and/or too time-consuming. DS10 (next year) wants to do these with his dad, but dad is atheist. Are the books "too Christian", or are they mostly secular? Oh... and what about the automotive book(s)? Are either of them something that could reasonably be completed over the course of a summer? My dad is a retired mechanics instructor, so I'm thinking about having my son spend a summer with him.
These books are quite secular. They are the same ones used at high schools and trade schools across the country. They are not Christian and not written by CLE. That said, they are not "atheist" either, but are strictly concerned with whatever skills they are written to address. I haven't used any of these, but I have seen a couple of the agriculture/horticulture ones. Expensive? yes, for me they are, but so are all textbook courses. The one for Beginning Woodwork is from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill and is $42 for the text, and $15 more for "student materials" book. The Carpentry one has an ATP mark on it, but I don't know what company that is, is new (2013), $115, and $40 for the "student guide", plus $7 for "teacher materials". Student guides and teacher materials (answers to the workbook and such) ARE written by CLE to accompany the textbooks, but some also have workbooks from the publisher of the text in the "student materials".
I'm mostly curious what sort of tools and how much wood we'd have to purchase to use the books. That's where it can really, REALLY get expensive, I'm sure. I didn't realize these weren't written by CLE. Thanks for that bit of info. That really helps a lot, too!
