And I shall THIRD the Heinicke recommendation. I am close to northern NJ - in Orange County of NY. There is a supposedly excellent carving school in Wayne NJ (Google American Woodcarving School). I've been wanting to sign up for classes on Sat. for awhile but haven't had the time or budget. There are at least a couple good woodcarving clubs in northern NJ that I've heard of. Check out the clubs link here on the WCI site.
Welcome. Dive in and fire your questions away. Though you'll probably find that if you mine the past discussions most of your newbie questions will have been addressed at one point or another. But don't let that discourage you from asking anyway.

ChuckT