Tc,

I'd recommend Kaplans home study course. It is set so that you can take the classes on your own time and take each test to get the neccessary credits. You can't just take the tests for the class one after another though. There is a time span that has to pass between course tests. If you have more time than money you might want to look at City College. They have a great program that I did to get my sales license. I did Kaplans to get my Brokers license.
The thing I recommend is to get the Kaplan test practice course and start drilling on it. Getting an appraisal license is more time consuming in that you have to apprentice for a licensed appraiser for many, many hours.

Online courses are great if you can be focused at home. It works for some people, not for others. As far as appraisers, I think it's going to be more necessary to join a big appraisal outfit in the future. Gov regulations are making the 3rd party outsourcing of appraisals into an assembly-line job, and appraisal brokers will be locked in with big appraisal companies.