Judi, I teach PageMaker at the college level. Suggest you do a
semester of PageMaker using scanning and making full use of the tools
to build simple illustrations. Also work on color theory through the
colors choices (RGB/CMYK). Second semester launch into Illustrator
and finish up with Photoshop. Output in color will be expensive.
Stick with grayscale for all proofs and allow each student a few
color finals. Best. Jane in Brooklyn