Have you looked at the Earthshine projects book - its pdf and free (thanks guy from Earthshine who's name I cannot fathom at this point)?
How bout the tutorials at this site which is also step-by-step and I found it quite informative a few days ago and I don't even have my hardware yet. Arduino Tutorial - Learn electronics and microcontrollers using Arduino!
Did you try the Arduino notebook here: http://arduino.cc/playground/uploads/Main/arduino_notebook_v1-1.pdf
The best way (not suggesting you didn't try it that way) for me to learn has always been to do something practical (maybe thats why maths was always a drag for me) and these tuts kinda do that.
Otherwise see if there will be a get-together in your area, best I can suggest at this point.