Hi, after trying several schools and tutors, I find myself just wanting a non-native speaker of Chinese to assist with grammar and vocab. While my native speaking teachers “know” this stuff, they seem to have no way to explain it that doesn’t involve “hao le” NEXT!
What I would like is someone who has trudged thru the s#$t of learning Chinese and can help me improve.
Any suggestions?
Consider that a non-native teacher of Chinese (such as myself) will probably demand the same rates he or she could get for teaching English, which is quite a lot more than the going rate for native Chinese teachers. Otherwise, the teacher would be better off teaching English. I reckon there must be some native Chinese teachers out there who can answer your “why” questions.
As I see it, anyone trying to learn anything well would do best to learn from the native or original ‘masters.’ If I wanted to learn ‘real’ German, I’d want to learn it from a native German. Of course, I understand the problem; it kinda stinks that native speakers of the language you’re interested in often aren’t very proficient in English.
Have you tried looking for the next best alternative; an American or English born Chinese? Being one myself, I know we’re out there… 
I think you might be on the right track. While many of the native Chinese speakers do very well once you get yourself to the intermediate or so level, most are very bad at helping beginners on the path towards learning. (And I suspect many of us are as well with beginning English learners).
Maybe you could couple self-study with a non-native giving you coaching on the best process to follow, and the tricky points? Let us know how it goes.