Use SQLClient Class Along With CommandText To Send SQL INSERT?

My general method up until now is I use SQLClient class along with CommandText to send SQL INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements dorectly to the SQL Server from the VB app. I have a function I use that will escape any special characters within any string variables. I put a lot of vb database functions in a module that all of my forms can use. When I need to pass data around I send/add arguments to functions using regular variables, etc... I log all of my SQL queries sent to the server to a log file for troubleshooting.So far this has worked well. I know there are better ways to do this, Stored Procedures for example. But I just have not made that leap yet. I'm about to consider turning my world upside down!

I'm MOSTLY interested in creating custom Classes that represent the various objects in my database (Customers, Projects, Invoices, etc...). Then defining all of the properties each of these classes should have: Customer.ID, Customer.Name, Customer.Status, etc... and would like to "map" that Customer object to the database I'm interfacing with. I figure I can wrap all of the SQL commands into methods within each class, i.e.: myCustomer.Name = "Joe Smith"