Hey and welcome to the site.

Originally Posted by: rinkrat15Is there a place on this site to get a better understanding of what I should be doing?

Reading music is not absolutely necessary; but is an invaluable skill.

I suggest to people that are only interested in playing guitar as a hobby or on an amateur level it is not necessary to be able to sight read music notation, but it is good to at least be able to read and understand the information in music notation.

For your son, I would recommend definitely to learn to read music.

Start at Guitar Fundamentals 1. It is a great way to learn from the ground up. In it you will find info on how to read tab in chapter 2.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=1

Follow that with Guitar Fundamentals 2. In it you will find info on how to read music notation in chapter 4.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=2

Let us know how it goes. Ask more questions as necessary. Best of success to you both! :)