As our fourth term of the Mortise & Tenon Apprenticeship Program is just about complete, we’ve been doing some assessment to see how we might refine it going forward. Don’t get me wrong – this program is a smashing success. To date, we’ve led loads of people from around the world through eight weeks of hand-tool bootcamp, and we’ve seen a shockingly high completion rate. And, believe me, it’s not because this program is easy. It is hard work, but the folks who sign up seem to be a dedicated lot.
But, with four terms now under our belt, we wanted to do our best to tighten up the program and work out any wrinkles. As we’ve gone through each aspect, in all honestly, there have been very few areas of coursework or curriculum that could use tweaking. This program has become one smooth sailing ship!
The main course materials (videos, PDFs, etc.) have proven to be a powerful teaching presentation and we have no intention of changing them. The pile of the “extra” materials we provide students is already pretty extensive, but we’ll likely be adding more here and there just for the heck of it. So, after all our assessment and discussion, there’s one significant change we’ve decided to make: We’re shifting from four terms to one term per year, running through April and May. This means that our 2022 fall and winter terms are postponed until next spring. We will be expanding registration to accommodate more students for this annual term.
By running this program once per year instead of four times, Mike and I will be able to get even more involved and yet will be freed up during the rest of the year to write more books, edit articles, and make more shavings ourselves. Juggling so many different projects at once as we do at M&T can be tricky and requires a readiness to adapt as needed. We’re confident that this shift is the right move for everyone: us at M&T and the students. We absolutely love this program and intend to continue running it for years into the future. Shifting to once per year is the way we believe we can do that.
If you’d like to join the next Apprenticeship term (which will run April 4 – May 27), sign up for our wait list below. As soon as we open registration in February, you will be the very first to be notified.
So, you have several months to prepare for next spring’s bootcamp experience. Gather your tools and clear your shop space – it will be here before you know it.
-Joshua