I think there's a lot in the supplements that is insufficiently examined. There's also much in the supplements that I like, but not when it comes to Labor Points.
So, ok, let's look only at the main rules when it comes to apprentices:
An apprentice providing useful help to a magus in the lab has a choice of xp sources to choose from, in descending order of xps gained:
An apprentice who is being Trained in the lab will get xps in any one Ability that went into the Lab Total, at the master's discretion. The master will not get any benefit to his Lab Total from the apprentice's presence. The apprentice counts against his Leadership score for determining the number of assistants he can have.
A newly-Gauntleted magus who was never taught Arts by his parens, but was Trained every required season (14) could still put 2*(3*15+1)=92 points into Arts! If some of those required seasons were spent learning spells, that's more points. Of course, a new magus needs AL, OoH Lore and some other Abilities too. The optimal regime for an apprentice depends on the parens. A very experienced magus with a high MT, or whose Lab Total involves other Abilities at high scores, might do better by his apprentice by Training rather than Teaching.
As for the original question about the familiar, if we take this route then the magus can train it during a season of lab work, gaining nothing to his lab total. Of course, we then run into the rules for beings with Might gaining xp!!!
What do you mean by "helping the master" there exactly? He isn't adding to his lab total, and is creating separate items, although it does have a minor knock on effect on Labour points.
In the second season, Gunter assists Klaus, but Hans is working on his own. Klaus and Gunter generate 30 Labour points, which is the same as the previous season, which implies Hans still counts as an "assistant" for the point of view of keeping the workshop functioning properly (i.e. the -3 deduction to the labour points for the fact that he should have three employees hasn't got any bigger). In the third season, when Hans is training Gunter and Klaus is working on his own, Klaus again generates 30 labour points (so somehow both Gunter and Hans count as employees even though Gunter is being trained).
and the fact is there should not be a -3 penalty for not enough assistants by the rules presented in the book, so why are we even discussing the example which doesn't follow the rules?
