I'm looking at strarting my PPL in a week or so, and progressing through to CPL et al.
The way I figure it, if I enroll in a ground school, I can always take the books home afterwards, and swot away as much as I like.
I can't see any reason why I can't have the best of both worlds: the private study at home, as well as a more structured theory session at a ground school.
The benefit of this, I feel, would be having someone who knows their business being able to answer questions I may have, and set me straight on potential problem areas, as and when I hit them.
On Track makes a good point - it's the real-life stories that add so much that a text book can't.
Also, from previous experience studying, I'm not the most disciplined student, and having a set schedule would probably help me get over PSS (Procrastinating Student Syndrome).
Although I don't know if that would necessarily be a problem, as I'm keen as mustard, and would probably eat up as much as I possibly could of anything remotely aviation oriented.
I also agree with the idea of having a few different reference sources, as Dr. Phil says. You can never be too prepared.