One thing that anyone wanting to get their license might think of doing is to dedicate a few weeks to getting some training in a school.
I trained for a while at a small flight school and found that doing an hours flight a week was just not going to work. Was forgetting half of what I learned and needed to either fly more each week or stop. Ended up stopping for a few years (after solo) and taking it back up later when time permitted. That was 32 years ago and have been flying for a living the last 26 years.
What I am trying to say is that you might think of finding a school, spending a week or two at a facility and do nothing but fly. There are many good schools around in Cali, Arizona and Florida to look at. Also, flying out of a large airport, you tend to spend a lot of time waiting for other aircraft, which gains you no experience and wastes money.
Find a small airport and go there for more quality flight time and less time spent "holding short" for take off clearance. The other important thing is finding a place to fly where you are not kept on the ground by weather, and the above places usually are clear most of the year.
Regarding the instructor. If you do not get along with him/her, get someone else! Another problem these days is that most instructors are moving up in the food chain and some students end up having several before they are signed off for their checkride. Another reason to go to a dedicated school and take a few weeks and do it all at once.
Joe A
PS if you guys want to fly in a REAL airplane, get with John Cramer or myself. We both fly old fabric covered taildraggers and that is REAL FLYING! I rarely go over 500 feet and enjoy seeing what is going on around me. John's airplane is made to fly upside down and he wrings it out from time to time I hear!
Mine is over 50 years old and straight and level is just fine for me. Fly a fast jet for a living but enjoy my old taildragger on days off as its just for fun, and low and slow.