It's pretty damn confusing at first. I didn't like to craft at all. I had Too Many Items mod at the time and Single Player Commands so I didn't need crafting. When they updated to 1.8, I didn't want to wait for the mod update. I don't have any single player maps. I play on servers now. I love survival mode more than I did before. Just look up a few videos. I like 'iJevin' he makes good videos ;3
Hold down left click on stuff to punch it. Collect its resources. Make stuff out of it. Use this site for crafting recipes: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Crafting