As others have mentioned you have the right idea, I'd urge you to give yourself time while you are learning to read music. Most of my students equate reading with sight-reading (reading in realtime at tempo) which is a great skill to develop, is hard to think about when you are just starting out. Part of learning to read music is recognizing the patterns on the page and part is recognizing the patterns on the instrument. The mandolin is tricky because it is a relatively uniform grid, you have to provide the patterns. On the pipes, once you recognize a birl or grip, you don't necessarily read each individual note when you look at the music, you already know the patterns. Additionally you can play a note in multiple places on the neck, unlike the pipes which have 9 dedicated notes with corresponding fingerings. Once you start recognizing some patterns on the instrument the whole endeavor gets much more manageable.
I like books like
Knowing Notes for the Violin for mandolin because they don't have tablature and are geared specifically for playing in first position.
Learning to read is a fantastic skill to develop, so keep at it.