I hope this is the right place, looks like it. Is there a school near St. Louis Missouri? If not, where is the closest ones? Where did you go to school and how much does it cost? I really want to go, but I can't afford school if I take off work... Also, I saw in Car Audio and Electronics that home school and internet course. I would guess that would be a waste of time and money. I mean without hands on, I guess a person could learn but if you had any questions where (besides here) would you turn?
You are right about there being no substitute for hands on. The following is a very informative website. It only has a few pages. Read them all. It will help you with a lot of the things you will need to know.
https://www.bcae1.com/
I went to RITOP just outside of boston. It was started by the guy that owns Rich's Car Tunes if you have heard of them. They have an outstanding set up there. They teach you everything you need to know to get started in this field. I am from Florida, and chose this school after spending a lot of time talking to the directors at just about every school I could find for car audio.
I am about four years out of school now, and currently the supervisor at a shop in dallas, tx. The school was eight weeks long. Cost me a total of 8 grand. This is for the school, a place to stay, and I gave myself a hundred bucks a week to live off of for food and what not. I stayed in a small apartment that the school set me up with. I also had the choice of staying at a hotel and getting a roommate, but it was a little bit more expensive, so I chose the tiny apartment.
School is 9-5 monday thru friday. Half day in shop, half day in class for the entire 8 weeks. Since being out of school I have met and worked with a lot of guys that chose other schools, and it just seemed they did not get the same out of it. They spent too much time watching other people doing things, and hardly any time at all studying electronics and working on cars. It took me less than a month before I was able to be left alone in a real world shop. Something I cannot say about most graduates I've met from other schools.
They also have financial aid, check em out.