Actually Dan, I didn't re-write the checklist on my own! The FIC instructors and I decided to throw out some of the more pointless checks and to simplify things as much as possible - and then I edited the final version!
Teaching pilot navigation isn't difficult really. Plan the first dual navigation exercise as a simple 2 leg effort between large features and have a couple of track/ETA checks at easy fractions of leg length on the first leg. Let the student do the take-off and climb, but take control and demonstrate the checks before and after the start point (we use pre-HAAT/post-HAAT). Then fly the first leg yourself and demonstrate the activity cycle as far as the first track/ETA check; maintain control but get the student to calculate the revised ETA at the second track/ETA check and to recognise the turning point. Try as hard as possible not to induce any track errors so that the student can see that the system of planning accurately, flying accurately and thinking ahead actually works - and concentrate on the activity cycle and proportional timing corrections. Remember to include FREDA checks at low activity times, NOT at turning points or track/ETA checks.
On the return leg, get the student to do the pre-HAAT, post-HAAT checks and to fly as far as the first track/ETA check. Once he/she's calculated a revised ETA for the end point whilst flying the ac, take control and deliberately put the ac 2 or 3 miles off track at the next track/ETA check. Then introduce the Standard Closing Angle correction method, get the student to assess the cross-track error and to work out the corrective heading and ETA amendment but fly the ac back to track yourself using his/her calculations. When the corrective time has elapsed, resume the correct heading, do a FREDA check and then let the student fly the remainder of the leg. Make the end point of the navigation exercise somewhere familiar to the student, then get him/her to rejoin the aerodrome - perhaps include a revision of the RT fail join. Introduce things in stages, not all in one go. Make the next dual exercise a 'safety module' incorporating 'operation at minimum level' and 'forced landings with power' and (in the UK) use of the Emergency Fixing Service on 121.5. Do NOT let the student get beyond this stage until he/she has passed the Navigation and Radio Aids, Meteorology and Flight Performance and Planning exams.
Make the student's first couple of solo navigation exercises the same route as he/she has flown dual, then let another FI do an independent progress check before sending the student off on an unseen solo exercise. Build up his/her confidence and skill, but insist on accuracy and don't allow any 'over map reading'!