When I lived in Boston, I wanted to take this series of courses, but never had the time:
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2008-09/courses/10228.jsp .
It is a lab electronics course based on "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill. If you take it both semesters it goes from basic electronics all the way to chip design. At the moment I am stumbling along with my copy of Horowitz and Hill and TechShop help.
Does anyone know if there is a course similar to the one I listed above offered anywhere in the Bay Area?
Between your copy of H&H, the Internet, a kit of parts (I used to go to Halted's in Sunnyvale to look for random electronics parts; Digikey and Mouser are also your friends) and a few hours of tutor time when you get stuck, you can get a lot of education in this stuff for $1725. I know for a fact that you can hire a Ph.D. in EE for $100 an hour to teach this stuff... because I'd take that job in a heartbeat, just for the fun of helping someone fiddle with soldering irons. Too bad you now live on the wrong coast. ;)
Grad students or talented undergrads should be available for much less than $100 an hour, unless times have changed a lot.
You may not need many hours of lectures. Try asking a guy to explain the things you're stuck on for an hour or two and see how that goes.
The other thing you should do is try (perhaps using the very same method you're using now) to sign up with three or four other people, then get together for a Big Op Amp Circuit Building Party. Just discussing your problems with other people is helpful and fun. Build iPod headphone amps for all your friends. Build stereo preamps. Build stuff from Make magazine.