Another great way to learn is by subscribing to Hiragana Times at
J-List -- a wonderful toybox of things from Japan!. At the site, they have this thing called a reserve subscription, which means that they get the magazines and save it for you if you prefer paying by money order or checks instead of credit card.
Hiragana Times has articles in English, which has kanji at the bottom, and furinaga at the top so that you can essentially learn how to read and speak the language at the same time. If you would like a taste of it, here's this link:
Introducing Topics of Japan - Japanese Lesson