You are definitely missing some understanding of the basic text capabilities of Photoshop. Doing text in Illustrator or another app is fine, and I won't knock it, but Photoshop is pretty powerful with text all by itself, so if I were you I'd stick with one application for the time being. Don't sweat it: we've all been there, and everybody here was once a total beginner at Photoshop. I remember using Photoshop 3 for the first time, back in 1993 or so, and being amazed...
Here is a really basic wikiHow tutorial I found by googling around for a minute. It should help get you started, especially with the aspect you seem to be having the most trouble with, resizing the type. How to Add Text in Photoshop: 7 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow