Mike,
Have you looked into computer R/C flight simulators?
I couldn't imagine trying to learn R/C on my own, I would have destroyed at least a dozen aircraft. With the R/C flight sim, all you have to do is press start after a crash, not spend a week at the building bench. The computer sim is not the best way to learn, but it will help you get used to keeping the nose level in a turn, and the control reversal you get when flying toward yourself. These seem to be the hardest things for beginners to learn.
www.towerhobbies.com offers the Realflight R/C simulator. I set up a plane to duplicate my Goldberg Ultimate biplane exactly, and I use it to practice new manuevers.