Dreamweaver is pretty expensive. Have you downloaded the trial and tried it for 30 days? You might be able to answer your own question.
If you have plenty of time to spend on accademic exercises and are not concerned with being employable then you can take the route others have suggested. You also might want to learn C and code your own text editor to write you code in while you're at it.
If you just want to start banging out sites and learn how they work along the way while learning a skill that is a prerequisite for nearly any web design job I'd go the dream weaver route.
Well, first, to design a quality design, get Photoshop. From there, use Notepad to code it manually. Often times the HTML generated programs such as FP gives useless info and often doesnt validate correctly.
You're getting your advice from coders and , although, I agree w/ them in theory- you can't beat learning the code from the ground up and having the ability to write it directly to a text pad- everybody doesn't have the time to learn from rote or they may not be inclined to learn in that fashion.
My approach has been the opposite of learn the code 1st. I've started w/ the WYSIWYG software and have learned my code by working backwards, so to speak. I've found that working back and forth between design and code view, and being able to see what's happenning to the code when I change the page from design view, (or see how the design changes when I change the code), has worked best for me.
I'm finding Dreamweaver to be particularly useful, ATM, w/ tables, setting CSS, and php. I use Dreamweaver in conjunction w/ Taco HTML Edit, a Mac app which I would describe as an Html friendly Text Edit or Notepad w/ a few extra, time-saving web design features attached to it.
Agree with the most said above. However, I would leave Photoshop out of the picture for now since it has a pretty high learning curve and it looks you already have enough on your hands.
Like most of the other I would skip on Dreamweaver for now and get used to coding by yourself, this might also help you later on when learning PHP. Also I wouldn't leave JavaScript and XML out of it. If you're serious about becoming a webdeveloper, you should also be familiar with these two as they are coming more and more important in web developement (with AJAX being the new hype and all).
I suggest w3schools for tons a of very usefull information.
I only recommend learning how to code if you're going to take it very seriously. If you're doing simple things, you'll save lots of time by just using Dreamweaver, or Front Page, or a cheaper/free app.
Yeah like everyone has recommended learning the language is always best; gives you a lot more control. Although I like using a text editor that is made for writing code, I use notepad++ with all the handy text hightlighting and formating as dreamweaver and other HTML editors but the program is as light as notepad. It's not for macs though but I am sure there are similar programs for Macs.
As for the HTML editor part if your trial ever ends you can try Nvu it is a free open source HTML editor. I use it and it is pretty good. It is compatible with most mayor OS including Mac.
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You're getting your advice from coders and , although, I agree w/ them in theory- you can't beat learning the code from the ground up and having the ability to write it directly to a text pad- everybody doesn't have the time to learn from rote or they may not be inclined to learn in that fashion. 
