Soldering is easy and fun. There is a lot of information out there, but each individual experience is different. I would say, start simple and see where it leads you. Here is our current setup:

• Soldering Iron
• Soldering Iron Stand
• Brass Sponge
• Tip Tinner
• Solder

There are more advanced and more expensive tools and supplies out there, but this is what we have been using for soldering through-hole headers, wires, resistors, and chips on the board. It works great for prototyping. If you have a steady hand, results are very professional. It is a lot of fun watching metal solidify under your control and seeing parts merging together. We went through a soldering class hosted locally by SparkFun. You can check their schedule here. I am sure there are soldering classes available in your area. One additional thing that has been recommended to us is “third hand.” There is a wide variety of those gadgets out there with mind-boggling features. Usually they have several alligator clips mounted on flexible tubing. So far, we did not have a need for something like this, so I cannot make any recommendations.