Hellooooo.
I've been checking this forum every few days for a few months now. (Mainly to pick up and read about studying tips, before I take this seriously)
Well, now seems to be the time I should take it seriously.

I'm taking an online Japanese course for the year (and next year). (Mainly because I didn't want to take spanish to get credits.) (It's Aventa if anyone is interested.)

I know online courses don't teach you much, but I'm doing it as motivation?
I have plenty of motivation, but it's going to be an extra push. (Since school pushes me.)

Anyways; aside from this course I have sort of planned out what I'm going to be doing for self study.

Please, if you have any tips or such tell me!

-Hiragana/Katakana (Already got down, so I'm good.)
-Genki / Tae Kim
-RTK 1
-Vocab / core 2k/6k

I'm really not sure when to do when, which is my biggest problem.
I've read a bit of Tae kim, but at first glance I can't seem to understand any of it. (Though I'm trying to take my time, writing down notes, ect, using particle books.)

Should I do RTK before Genki and Tae Kim? Should I do Tae Kim before Genki, or do them both at the same time?
The only thing I'm sort of sure about is doing vocab AFTER RTK. People say RTK makes vocab easier, which I guess is good.

So, anything else I might need, or might want to change?

Also, one other question. How many hours a day to people (maybe students can help me out with this) invest into this? I know you should invest a lot of time, which I'm hoping I can do. (While still having time for school work and a little bit of friend/play time.)

Again, sorry if this question has been asked many times. Or if it comes off annoying, I'm sorry. I just would like some help.

Do RTK1 and grammar at the same time(Tae kim/A dictionary of basic japanese grammar).
If you have trouble with understanding anything about grammar, i recommend doing a part of Pimsleur(i did 1 part from 3), it really helps to get familiar with how japanese works. RTK should be your first priority and learning grammar when you're done with reviews, will allow you to go right into Core after you're done with it. Genki isn't necessary, because you're doing Core/Kanji Odyssey anyway and it's boring

Vocab after RTK, when kanji aren't black magic for you anymore, no use doing it earlier(you can begin doing Core, when you've done some of RTK).
How many hours you spend on study depends only on how much you can/want to. 2 hours/day should be a reasonable ammount with school and other things. It's much more important to review and study every day, than "getting addicted" to doing as much as you can(yes, it's addictive, don't aim for that and take it easy, unless your life depends on it;d).

Alright. I guess I'll do my 'class' activities and then just do RTK for a bit. I think I won't start tae kim till I'm going with RTK.

Then I'll proceed to core and hopefully work my way from there.

Any RTK tips? (I'm going to be doing it on anki, instead of the actual book. Although the book teaches you the strokes..(Does it?)). I'm currently set up for 20 new cards a day. Hopefully I can continue that for a bit.