I have taught quilting at every school I have been at. I start with a full class hour on how to thread and fill the bobbin and thread the machine. Then we would practice on scraps on how to guide the material, and tension. Then we took a whole class time on how to cut materials. Dependent on the kids, and the size, sometimes I would cut squares for them, but usually they would use two pieces of contrasting material, and we would make either a four patch or a nine patch. Once we did that, we would make a little pillow out of it. Those four things took me a month. Hope this helps!!!