When I was a kid I taught myself by practicing the coordinated effort of accelerating-clutching and shifting-accelerating on a VW sitting in the driveway. Motor off, just practicing the use of two feet and going through the gears pretending like I was really going somewhere. The first time I got behind the wheel of a manual, no problem. Didn't even stall once; it just took a little tweaking to not race the engine so much before engaging the clutch (the trick is to mash down on the gas pedal *after* the clutch begins to engage). Later, starting from an incline was mastered by engaging the clutch until it first began to "catch" while keeping the foot brake applied, then giving it enough gas to keep from stalling or rolling back.