How to start practicing with sheet music?

[bombtrash]

I am a beginner and i have been practicing and playing on piano(actually a keyboard) for about 2 years now with the help of synthesia and youtube tutorials. My aim is to just get good(decently) at playing piano. I am doing this just as a hobby. Now i think that i have hit a wall as i am unable to remember more than say 10 pieces with midi files and synthesia tutorials. So i thought i should start learning music theory and since i can't afford classes i started looking at online classes and i found amazing music theory classes on youtube by a guy called lypur.

I have learnt all the basics(the VERY basics of the basics) of the music theory and i want to kick it up a notch by learning to sight read and play with the help of sheet music. I know all the elements of sheet music. In fact to memorize them i've tried transcribing the midi files that i had into sheets with musescore and now i want to actually play piano with the help of sheets. So how do i start?

Which pieces should i practice first? i want to get good at sheet music for now rather than getting good at piano. So are there any pieces that are fairly easy and would help me to get a good grip at sheet learning.

Thanks.

[stoat_king]

Its not an easy question without a clue about what kind of music you are looking for.
Chopin Prelude in E Minor (Op 28 no 4) is fairly simple, though a little depressing.
'Unforgettable' by Nat King Cole (I suspect it wasnt written by him but I cant put my hands on the sheet music) is both easy and very satisfying to learn.
If I think of any more, I'll post them

[chopinlover01]

With (little) respect, I wouldn't use the Chopin e minor prelude as sheet music practice. Then it becomes an etude 
Read through various Mozart, Haydn, and Bach. Scarlatti is cool too.
If you *must* read through Chopin, go through the mazurkas. Just don't forget the musical value behind each one of them. If you've seen any of my other posts about this you'll see I recommend the mazurkas to everyone.. They're great pieces of music!

[chopincat]

I agree with what chopinlover said. I'd also recommend the Bach inventions, and perhaps the Clementi sonatinas if you're something more simple.

[quantum]

Look at sheet music that is much easier than your current ability.  The first few pieces will probably seem very difficult, but I encourage you to stick with it - reading will only get easier.  As you already have 2 years playing the piano, you have most likely built up some skills and methodology to learning music.  What you will need to overcome when learning to read music is diverting to familiar processes in learning (such as tutorials and learning by rote), as opposed to reading the sheets.  You need to resist any urge to fall back on methodologies familiar to you in order to overcome hurdles encountered in learning to read music, and instead persist in surmounting the hurdle through developing reading skill.  In essence you will be learning a different way of doing something you already know how to do. 

Build confidence by starting with very easy pieces, hands separately. 

[compline]

I am an older student, and  fairly good at reading music, but, as soon as I play a piece a few times, I begin to memorize without looking at the music, only to check now and then to keep my place.  Is this a bad habit to get into?

[chopinlover01]

If you're playing the score 100% accurately, I see no possible way this is a bad habit, except for maybe if you look at your hands too much.
@Chopincat I don't know how I forgot the Bach and Clementi, thank you for bringing that up. For sight reading, two part inventions may be a bit much, especially with little prior reading experience. The Anna Magdalena (I think that's the name?) notebook is a great place to start reading.