Flying once a month, even once a week, is just not enough.
My reccommendation to anybody wanting to learn to fly is to fly twice a day for an hour and a half. That means setting aside the money ahead of time.
For landings, you generally flare when you can see individual grass blades or pavement texture. At the same time you raise your gaze to the end of the runway to judge your height above the runway as well as drift from the crosswind.
Three jobs:
- Keep it pointed down the runway
- Hold the flare attitude
- Use bank to control drift