Pretty remarkable this thread has caused so much interest considering it sounds like you are doing a pretty standard training with an instructor who happens to be your son:

but you have to understand, there's a "granny patrol" dedicated to verbally abusing people that don't do certain things the "approved" way. Don't talk about teaching yourself, getting anything but a dedicated trainer to learn on. Granted, the granny patrol is generally right about the most successful way to learn, but they have a way of going very Nazi on newbies that stray.