I am glad to hear others are bumbling along trying to jumprope 
Our Y just completed a great new circuit training area and one of the aerobic stations is to jumprope for a minute - "NO problemo I thought
I was WRONG ! ! !
First of all my jumprope style has diminshed incredibly in 40 years AND I am way taller and way heavier than i was 40 years ago AND I can't jump or hop anymore (except to Polka 
I too would jumprope for hours on wonderful spring days when I was a child - What happened 
I do have a "professional" type adult jumprope I too will now have to dig out. The 3 times i tried it for a total of about 3 min it worked well. It is one of the rope ones, not vinyl, and has the swivel ballbearing handles.
One of the tricks I DO know is the rope has to be the right length for your height.
Start slow and gradually add speed as you get better at it.
I do the 2 foot hop, one where one foot stays as lead all the time,(kind of rocking) or the one that is actually "skipping" where you alternate feet.
the 2 foot hop is the most difficult IMHO and gets the HR up the quickest.
Cinderella dressed in yellow went downstairs to kiss her fellow . . .
Bubblegum bubblegum in a dish . . .
Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich,man, poor man . . .
Go play everyone!
It's about the journey and being in the moment, not about the destination