As you can tell by my screen name, I'm really into Flash. Hopefully I can give some insight.

In my experience, teaching yourself Flash is the way to go! It has a steep learning curve, so it's good to go at your own pace. If you're new to the world of programming languages (as I was) you're going to have a lot to pick up. Honestly, I found that instructor-led courses weren't worth the investment without already having some working knowledge of the Flash environment. It's just a whole different world to get accustomed to.

I totally agree with all the suggestions given so far. Lynda.com is great for teaching yourself the fundamentals that you'll need to even understand the terminology used in books and on the Flashkit boards.

I've found most people pick up Flash basics and then learn as needed for specific projects - for example, wanting to create a certain thing and having to research how to make it happen. This is where Flashkit is a huge help. You'll find a lot of very talented people willing to help a newbie on Flashkit! Also, I recommend picking up O'Reilly's ActionScript books to use as resources, especially his Cookbooks. He gives you commonly-used code, but more importantly, explains the how and why behind each piece of it.

Good luck to you!

Oh - I forgot!

A booked that really helped me when I was first started out was the Flash MX Actionscript: The Designer's Edge series. I haven't checked if they have one for Flash 8, but either way, if you don't have programming experience check it out. I found the visual representation of concepts very beneficial.

I will second flashkit and add one more:

http://www.kirupa.com

Select the Flash button.

scott