Hey I just got my catalog from Lego Education yesterday. The girls are going crazy! I may begin with simple machines and Engineering I before I invest in NXT. I'd really like to know more about that software from Carnegie Mellon that is supposed to be a course they can work through.
I did see a book: Maximum Lego NXT: Building robots with Java Brains.
One bullet describes: Learn JAVA, using our complete beginner's guide.
This looks promising for someone looking for additional challenge and it's good to see you can "grow" with the product because it's a considerable sum for a "toy"