I am very interested in learning how to begin baking cakes & decorating them. I have always used a local bakery. It just went out of business.
I love to bake. I teach so I thought this might be summer hobby...learning something new...with my darling daughter.

Any ideas... where do I start?
What is the best learning tools?
What do I need (equipment wise)?
Should I purchase books? Which ones? Magazines? Which ones?

As you can tell... I have no idea. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Check if it is in your area Michaels. They do Wilton cake decorating classes, and it will give you the basic of cake decorating, from classic frosting piping to fondant decorating.
Check this Wilton link if they do classes in your area. I would highly recomend it, it gave me a good start. After that I am using you tube for after learning.
http://www.wilton.com/classes/

Depending on the time that you have, you may want to take a wilton course at a local craft store. You have to buy some supplies which are a great base to start with.

I think my first-ish purchase was using a 40% off coupon at AC Moore and getting this tool caddy http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30CE7F-475A-BAC0-5C84F2613EBB520D&fid=3E32F5E3-475A-BAC0-560B229FE201C5B8