I'm wondering what the structure is... From a non magickal perspective & YMMV:

Have you thought about doing it with a 5 week intro in all of your topic areas, and then coming back through for a month on each topic? That will bring you to half a year with a good sense of where individual students are strong and where they are weak. What their natural proclivities are.

Then you can look at tailoring the next six months to their strengths and weaknesses? Devising outside assignments that make them explore what they need, and take another look at something they get instantly. Depends on the experience you need them to get before initiation.