I cannot answer this in a good way. But I know where to look.
It was a tremendous help for me to watch videos on Youtube along doing this course.
So look up this guy Corey Schafer among other showing things you are doing in Learn the hard way.
Probably some pieces fall into place when you watch other doing the same thing but explain it in another way.
One explanation does not work for everyone. One thing can be explained in many ways.