Joon, no apologies necessary.
But, how long do you plan on a foto career? Are we talking six weeks, or sixteen years? My point is, what's the rush? Nothing wrong with trying to learn everything you can, especially when you have willing guinea pigs. There is no shame in using Auto, and there is no prize for using manual.
How many guys are so h*ll bent on using manual, they practice and practice but never learn to compose? If you never know composition, what good is it to know your camera. My point being that one can get to know how to handle a camera easier when they aren't completely preoccupied and completely dependant on that little exposure needle. For me, composition is king, it's what gives you WOW shots, not the mode you used. When your WOW shot is hanging in a gallery, nobody will care what mode you used!
I'm not trying to discourage you from learning, since the best photographers know EVERY mode their camera is capable of, and then which to apply to get that perfect composition best. I hope you're getting my drift. Know also, that this is also only MY opinion, your mileage may vary. ;-)
Good luck
SS
Good luck

You don't say what camera you have, but start with auto and try to quickly move to the semi auto functions. On a Canon they would be Av (aperture priority) and Tv (shutter priority). On a Nikon these would be A and S modes, respectively. In aperture priority you select the aperture you want and the camera determines the correct shutter speed for a good exposure . In shutter priority you select the shutter speed and the camera selects the appropriate aperture for a good exposure. Aperture priority is generally used much more often than shutter priority. Once you are comfortable with the semi auto features you can try fully manual settings if you so desire.

You need to learn and understand the exposure triangle of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Various combinations of these three functions allow you to do much more than just get the correct exposure.