Jami, I wish you were closer to me. Its hard for me to explain but I had the same problem when I started sewing. I loved getting into quilting but I was really bad at the binding. I got a project done and took to the quilt store here and the owner went step by step with me and walllaaaaa I finally got it right. I'm more of a sight person that has to actually watch and do as I'm watching when it comes to quilting. I'm in a very small town and other quilters are wonderful about helping when you need help.
Do you have other quilters around that would be willing to actaully walk you through the binding? Or a quilt store that someone would actaully give you a hands on lesson. Obviously not the teacher you had before though.
I'm going to try the sew the binding to the back and machine sew it to the front. I have a large quilt to finish and so many other projects I really don't want to sit and hand sew a binding to the back of a King Size quilt.
Hopefully it will look okay. Maybe while someone shows you the correct way they can show you the cheater way (back to front). Ha. Thats what I call it.
Good luck. I hope all the advise others gave you will also help.