I asked Peregrine about the chargen rules in the GM's Looking for Players thread he had. It's RAW Chargen rules for learning spells. His response is below.
https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/ars-magica-canaries-are-dying-3-6-players/6634/1
EXcept in the RAW, there is the paragraph (p32, 3rd column, 2nd to last paragraph) that says you may want to have your mages learn spells as lab projects instead of xp. So if you take a year for lab, that would be a valid lab project for one season.
I am just seeing what others think?
Leave it as an xp spend. It's simple for the SG. He doesn't have to determine whether lab texts for any particular spell are available. Also keep in certain cases where your LT might be just barely high enough to learn a spell it is actually easier to learn by spending XP.
It's a lot more work if 6 people start throwing out spells as lab projects, because it requires snapshots of characters at the time they learn the spell
Note, these were my reasons for spending xp for spells at chargen for my saga. They may not be Peregrine's.
Edit:changed LAN (DYAC[1]) to lab.
[1] DYAC=Damn You AutoCorrect, I was on the iPad.
Oh, I planned to do all my post gauntlet spells as lab projects. I'll simply do the arts first, so that the lab total doesn't change much. Since we are talking 10pg, this won't imbalance anything. After all, creating items is possible too (rather then spending 30xp to get a lvl 30 item).
I assume that there are no lab texts to learn from and an aura 3 standard lab available.
- arts
- familiar/spells/items
- skills
Lab projects are not an option, it's xp only. That was the single biggest roadblock to why Laetitia couldn't be de-aged and still reasonably be the same character who had investigated the diabolist.
I've revised my opinion about the whole magic-items/familiars/talisman thingie (now that I've actually found the rules). Note, however, that it might be a pain to figure how long you're going to spend on the lab activities and back out the points you're going to lose for going that route.
Isn't that what all women do? 
Not generally a pain: You decide how many YEARS you are spending in lab. so if you are 7 years out of apprenticeship and you are doing 2 lab years: you get 5 years of 30 xp and 8 seasons in the lab. If lab seasons are towards end of advancement, then you don't even need to worry about arts totals.
((For example, my lab seasons were 8 and 10. Nothing in year 8 depended on what I spent xp for in year 9, year 10 all xp is already spent))
I'll just post this here since we're all spread out over the different games. Check out the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman (one of two Snow White Movies coming out this year). It looks very cool and paints a very dark faerie tale forest as well as a truly powerful wizard (the evil queen). The one with Julia Roberts looks much more like a comedy, this one does not.
You can catch the trailer at the comcast.net site.
Speaking of Companions, is anyone interested in playing a Venditor, we will have 2 Verditius after all.
Yes. I am.
If I'm the only player interested in playing such a character, and both characters want one, I can envision selling his services to the highest bidder or something. Muhahahaha!
I have no idea what I am going to do for a companion. Maybe a noble woman holding territory nearby. Educated and keeping the land until I have a son to inherit or I marry and my husband gets it. We would have to see. I am not sure about women holding land in scotland.
I am tempted to make one of Sansa and Groth's kids into a companion 
Don't forget - it's only a crime if [strike]you get caught[/strike] the Quaesitor says it is.
I was intrigued and then I saw it was Kristen Stewart playing Snow White. YGtBFKM
So who is going to be the first magus to find an apprentice for me to claim?
I really suggest not playing it that way.
It is called humor. Yes, I can claim apprentices but I am not likely to until I have need for one because that 1 season a year is heft burden that my character is not ready to take on.
Smileys...
Or other tags...