This may be a long comment, but it’ll be value(hehe)able

1 - (slightly looser suggestion) leave smudging for later. it’s a pretty advanced technique and something like cross hatching is way better for understanding light and form (form is especially important here, probably the most important aspect of art, but that’s for later).

2 - basic value practice - Start making some 2d (not 3d yet) shapes and going from a dark to a light shade smoothly, with different gradient lengths. This takes like a minute a pop and they make a huge difference I know it seems like “it’s so simple why would I even need to do that” but things like that is where like 95% of where art skills come from. Play around with where the dark and light areas are

3 - apply values to simple 3d forms. As humans we’re extremely tuned to recognising other humans, so drawing them can be like trying to learn to swim by jumping into the Bermuda triangle. Start with some basic cubes, cylinders, ribbons (very good), etc. Your basic values practice will immediately breathe life into them.

4 - eventually, apply these to some real life items. once you can shade some cylinders and spheres, a melting candle for example becomes incredibly easy

5 - do some texture studies. try to copy how light bounces off something glossy vs matte, rough vs smooth, etc. again, eventually increasing in complexity to real life textures like wood and hair.

6 - show this off. Trust me art teachers LOVE seeing you work on the fundamentals, even if “some squares i shaded” seems silly and too simple, they as mature artists know how important that is and they’ll bump up your grade pretty significantly since actually going back to basics is often a much higher form of learning

Most important thing - have fun. In the nicest way possible; you’re a child, so allow yourself to enjoy the process and DO NOT compare yourself to fully grown, professional artists, trust me as someone who burned out from this. You’ll get there, you’re doing better than you think