Fulcrum,
While simplification has it's merits, if you intend to ever fly anything with retractable landing gear and a controllable propeller, now is the time to ingrain the habit to verify the gear. There are thousands of red faced and occasionally dead pilots who thought they'd save the litany only for the times when they were in a retractable gear airplane.
I can't get around the pattern, even in a fixed gear airplane, without checking the gear half a dozen times, and several more prior to touchdown. If it's fixed gear, then I'll visually look at it, and confirm that it's down and bolted.
While it may seem a minor point, I recall a friend who lost a wheel after takeoff. If he'd just looked outside at his gear, he'd have known, but he didn't. He could have altered his landing technique and done less damage, but he didn't. It won't hurt you a bit to include the gear and do the gumps check. You'll be rewarded by developing good habits early.
Why fight with your instructor? Either try what he has to offer, or find a different instructor. It's too expensive, and life's too short.
I'll sign off with a brief note about a man who had more experience than many of us here put together. He'd been flying large complex airplanes since getting into the army air force underage, completing B-24 school, getting removed, coming back, and then going to war in B-17's. He was older when I knew him, and he was running a spray outfit. I went to work for him. Most of what he had forgotten, I willl never hope to know. He was knowledgable, sharp, and willing to share.
He put two new engines and props on a twin commanche that served as his personal airplane. He flew it to Scott City, KS, right after the work was done, and landed gear up; destroyed both engines and props. After many years of saying and doing, doing and saying, he finally said, and didn't.
It doesn't matter how much experience you have, you can still experience it. He flew mostly fixed gear ag airplanes when I knew him, and he was out of the loop of checking gear. We all were; I confess that I didn't do it after a while, either. It cost him a lot of money, and it could have been his life.
The most pertinent life lesson I recall from him was watching him land in the commanche one day. He had come from a cross country trip visiting his antique lady-love, and flew over the office to let me know he was back. I jumped in my jeep and went to the airstrip. He was on a 200' downwind, which was typical for our ag patterns, and our normal method of flying. He turned a downwind-to final, and in a tight-in turn, at the 90 deg point to the runway, both props stopped cold, and suddenly...feathered, in fact.
It was our proceedure during regular ops, which ran hot and heavy, to approach the airport low and fast, and use the prop to slow us as we pulled the power back for a very short final and landing. Standard practice. No wasted time, or motion. This is what he did. After many years of manipulating fists full of throttles in some demanding airplanes, he pulled the throttles to idle, only to discover that he'd pulled the props into feather, instead.
He hit the end of the runway, just barely, and I followed him onto the grass in my jeep. I parked behind him and shut off my engine. It was very quiet until I got out, and there was a lot of profanity and yelling. He was alone in the airplane, giving himself one of the worst tongue lashings I believe I've ever heard uttered by man or beast.
The moral here, is that not only must you repeat the language, but you must touch the controls. Talk the talk, walk the walk, and for the love of pete, look at what you're touching, and saying. It won't hurt to do it in the 152; it might one day save your life. That may be hard to appreciate at 350 hours total time, but trust me on that. Verify everything. You needn't live by GUMPS, but it's worked for a very long time for a lot of people, and I still dribble it off in a cub, in a jet, in just about anything, out of habit. Consistency isn't a bad thing. If simplicity is the name of the game, then consistency is the hallmark of simplicity and the road to the gate. Do it the same every time, and you stand a better chance of not cracking up.
