Jack, i would contact Cakewalk, explain your situation and ask if they have an educational/teacher/student discount policy.  If they do and you qualify you may get the DAW at a discount price.

Jack, i would contact Cakewalk, explain your situation and ask if they have an educational/teacher/student discount policy.  If they do and you qualify you may get the DAWs at a discount price.

I believe that the Cakewalk trial is for Platinum, as on the 'Try Sonar for free' page all I see is a link for Platinum.
 
Here is a link for the feature comparison table between versions.  The core program is the same for all versions.
https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Versions
 
Since you mentioned music theory and reading music, there is a cool free notation editor that would be handy with any of the free DAWs.  You can enter notes via MIDI, or by hand with a mouse, directly onto a staff view.  Then save the song as a .mid file and open in a DAW to orchestrate, playback, and record.
Check out MuseScore at:  https://musescore.org/

If you're the person who will be guiding them into the world of DAWs it's probably a good idea to use a DAW you are familiar with. Sonar Home Studio would be the obvious choice if all are using PCs.

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

tlw

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

Tracktion runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux.

abacab

tlw

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

Tracktion runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux.

All the students read music . I think that would play heavy into what DAW's the students would want to use .
 
Kenny
 
 

kennywtelejazz

abacab

tlw

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

Tracktion runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux.

All the students read music . I think that would play heavy into what DAW's the students would want to use .
 
Kenny
 

So I guess the open question remains whether they plan to compose offline, and just use the DAW to record their performance, or whether they want to use the computer as a composition tool.
 
Since they play real instruments, maybe they will fall onto the first category?

Another consideration is that you will likely end up being their default tech support person.
 
How much fiddling and fixing time are you willing to invest on an ongoing basis?

iZotope had linked this article back in April which is of a guy (Steve Lacy) who does most of his work using an iPhone/Garageband. It stuck out because it starts with him sitting in a studio but recording into an iPhone.
 
At 12, most kids are going to be mobile, or work mobile, and that is pretty much a given. The "hidden costs" associated with a DAW are going to manifest themselves at some point, so solutions they prefer (not ones others would impose upon them) are of high consideration. If you are footing the bill, it is a different story than telling them "buy this, it will be good for you."

Another thing to consider is that if they plan to record their instruments, if they are acoustic it will require good mics and a good audio interface with mic preamps.  Electronic keyboards could go straight MIDI into the software using virtual instruments.
 
So even with free software, there could be other costs involved to get started in recording.