Seeking advice on aligning objects in InDesign for beginners.

It would help a lot if you provided sme screen shots...

In what way are you trying to align them? Perhaps it's not alignment you are trying to achieve.

There are two things you can do with the Alignment panel.

Align means moving the selected objects to they have the same horizontal or vertical alignment. For example you can select multiple times then click Align Left. The objects will move only horizontally so they the left edge of every object is in the same position. The space between the objects won't be affected.

Distribute means to move the items to have the same amount of space between the reference point (it's a bit complicated). Select multiple objects then click Distribute Left Edges and the items will move horizontally so there is uniform space between each item's left edge. If the items are the same size you'll have uniform space between the items, if not the space between items will vary, but the distance from the left edge of one item and the left edge of the next will be uniform. I find this feature rather pointless. The items at the extreme ends (left and right) won't move. if you click Use Spacing the items will be uniformly spaced. You can enter a custom space, say 2 mm, to have the space be exactly that.

If you need something more complicated show us. Provide a screen grab of the results you are getting and the results you want.