[WHOOSH]

Dave, I''d like to suggest a supplemental ''home study'' source. Some years ago, several of us in the local USCG Aux course got together after the course ended and formed our own study group. The approach was for each member to pick an area s/he wanted to know more about (or perhaps already knew a fair amount about), prepare an informal lesson plan of sorts, and then deliver it to the rest of the group, with Q&A encouraged.

It was a good experience for me, as nothing ever sticks quite as well as what I worked hard at teaching others...and the burden was only mine once every few sessions, so perhaps one lesson per month. Yeah, we ended up with some Q''s we couldn''t A, but those got put on a shelf until someone worked them out later...or we could research the issue further on our own time.

I also met a really nice guy that way, who we remained in touch with for some years.

Jack