Hi Larry! I had to twist the foot joint on my Aulos soprano around a little when I started to be very, very sure that the little finger landed properly on the bottom holes, so they were covered and uncovered properly. The low notes are still a bit of a pain on my second-hand tenor too (as is everything else to be honest!).
There are some nice tutorials on YouTube if you can’t find a teacher. Sarah Jeffery seems to cover a lot of ground on her channel, and so does
‘unagondolaunremo’ in his.
As for not reading music, some of the beginners’ recorder books are a good way to learn. I hadn’t the foggiest “what the blobs meant” until working through a school recorder book earlier this year. As you learn each note’s fingering, the notation becomes familar. None of which will turn you into a music theory ninja overnight, but the basics come quickly enough.
Please keep posting with your progress. It’s good to compare notes, so to speak!