Beginner needs advice on how/what to practice

[cobray]

Hi all,
         I took lessons for about a year, but now live in a place where there is no teacher.  I've been practising a few pieces of sheet music from where I left off and some scales and a couple of C.L. Hanon exercises that I printed out.  I have John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano second and third grade books and they look to be suitable for my skill level, but I have yet to crack them. 
I try to fit an hour of practice in each day.  Any advice on how to make the best use of my time?
Typically I will warm up with some scales, then move on to the sheet music, then attempt to improvise for a bit, and finally finish with more scales and exercises.  I use the metronome quite a lot as my teacher stressed that it would not allow me to cheat.  Thanks for your help!

[49410enrique]

for now just worry about getting a solid 50/50 split on your music/course book and technique, i'd spend more than just warm up on scales and arpegios, it'll pay off in big time later on.

[cobray]

Thanks, I plan to start using the workbooks and I'll continue with the exercises/scales.  Anyone have advice on how I should practice scales or what exercises might be most useful?
Right now with the scales I use the metronome and work each one until I get to 110bpm using both hands at the same time. Sometimes I'll drop it down to about 50bpm and play the quarter notes as eighth notes.  Is this a good idea? Any suggestions are more than welcome.  Thanks for your help.