I remember when I was working on my PPL. I had a hard time figuring out when and where to do each thing. I had my instructor at the time go over in a ground and then in the aircraft what exactly to do and when. Also I asked if i could fallow on the controls while he talked what he was doing at the time. It helped me tons. I use it today with my students that are having problems.

Some other ideas, try going to an uncontrolled field so that he can not have to worry about traffic and radio calls.