Where to begin???
 

I am wondering... Is this system not at all for the lay-person to put together their personal website? I am unclear how many different downloads I need to get a structure to begin work. Where is there an outline from top to bottom, step-by-step to get a functioning website? I purchased Genesis Framework and one Child Theme.

Please help!

You need to upload both Genesis and the child theme to the themes folder then activate the child theme. Then go into the Genesis theme settings panel and set the options and place any widgets you want to use in the Widgets panel.

There are tutorials on customization here.

Upload to the "themes folder"? Where is the "themes folder"? I purchased & downloaded Genesis and Child Theme from StudioPress to my computer. They seem to just be a random bunch of files under Genesis and my Child Theme folders. There seems to be no application. I activated (I think) and got a bunch of instructions, and they seemed to refer to having to download WordPress so I could have that "dashboard". Then it seems I am supposed to be downloading Apache too????

I tried to follow your link for tutorials on customizing but it came up with an error.

They are WordPress themes so you need to have WordPress installed on your host. You can upload themes through the Themes panel under the Appearance menu or use an FTP client to upload the themes to wp-content/themes.