YaST?

Hi, I am still new to SuSE and YaST (and Linux, for that matter), and am confused about something...I know this is probably gonna make one or more of you laugh your a__es off, but... Is YaST not meant to be used to manage packages (install other programs after the initial installation is done)? I have tried everything I know, and cannot make it 'see' my home directory as a valid source path when I try to install some packages using either Yast1 or YaST2. It keeps saying 'Could not find the installation directory. Please enter an existing directory.' Well, my home directory IS an existing directory. What am I missing? Tia Charles