There's definitely reasons to do static line or IAD student jumps vs AFF...like you said you learn to fly your canopy, etc. before worrying about free fall...though without going into details, I think there's benefits to AFF as well.

WickedKlown2: if you're in middle TN, it looks like there's a DZ about 65 miles W of Nashville...http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ/GroupMem...8/Default.aspx

If anyone's interested, here's video of my 1st tandem jump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct1yLcF78nY