I appreciate your comments. I feel most comfortable starting by teaching with music, because that was the way that I was taught for two years, and I found it to be helpful.
I have also been in a few classes where no notation was used. Louise Mulcahy taught with a shorthand of notation, writing out the notes in groups and using indicators to show whether the note was long or short, first octave or second. I would do it that way, but I do think that for students who have not had any music theory yet, it is important to learn notation. I have met one or two folk musicians who are professional, much older than I am, and when they learn that I can read, they say they wish they had been taught to. I think it’s an important skill to instill from the beginning, and lose the music with more advanced students who want to try sessions out. Also, I found sight reading helpful, because then, I wasn’t dependent on my teacher or sessions to learn new tunes. I could simply by a tune book and go through it myself, and learn what I wanted.