Kevin:
I was a newbie at CCD photometry until quite recently and I agree the learning curve can be quite steep.
Have you found https://britastro.org/section_information_/variable-stars-section-overview/baavss-mentoring yet?
I may be able to help you but this forum is not the right place to do it in my opinion. If you would like to email me at paul (a) leyland.vispa.com we can see what can be done to get you started. We can’t easily meet in person because I’m in La Palma right now and after returning to Cambridge in a couple of months we will still be a fair distance apart. Phone and/or Skype/Zoom may be helpful as well as email.
Paul