Like Tippy, I prefer to start with a "Traditional Quilting" class - using templates, scissors, hand sewing, etc. I teach it as a 9-block sampler class, with different skills in each block. It's so good to start with real basics and not just jump into rotary cutting.
I used to teach it in a six-week class. The problem, as someone said, is that you often don't get to the quilting stage! That is why I stretched it out to 8 or 10 weeks, meeting 6 times with breaks between sessions so everyone could get all their blocks done in time to be ready for the layering-basting-quilting class. Again, we don't really get to the binding. I demonstrate it and give them handouts and make myself available, if possible, when they are ready to bind.
I don't use knots in hand-piecing, either, Tippy. I teach the method where you start about 1/2" from the end of the line, sew to the end, backstitch, turn around and go back the length of the line, backstitch at the other end and then turn it around and sew back toward the center again. It's so nice and strong and flat! (and easier to do than describe! LOL)