As far as scheduling time I would recommend scheduling lessons when you are fresh at the start of your day. It's tougher to focus and assimilate things when tired from work. On average count on taking about 30-40min for preflight discussion and preparation and then a 1:30 or so for the flight and 15-20min after for postflight stuff. Of course these things depend on what you and your instructor workout.

For studying in general immerse yourself in aviation (like many others have said). Do as much head work as you can before stepping into the plane. The more "ah ha" moments of understanding you have on the ground, the more frequent those "ah ha" moments will come to you in flight, and with less effort. It'll feel like a puzzle coming together, that's the feeling of learning. This will help you focus more on just flying the airplane and make it easier to observe what is happening around you. Just remember to always be looking for ways to improve the efficiency of how you do things because this will allow you to handle a higher workload when things get tough. "Chair Flying" will help with that.

Go get a hold of the publications you'll need from FAA: Home (you'll probably want print copies in the future)

Search the FAA site for the Private Pilot Practical Test Standards for Airplane that'll have a page of reference materials you'll need. It is also a guide to your checkride.
The first ones you'll want to get are The Airplane Flying Handbook, The Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, and the FAR/AIM 2009.
Start reading the first chapters of the handbooks and that'll give you a good head start.

As you read about controls, aerodynamics, and maneuvers. Get a copy of MS Flight Sim X and/or X-Plane and a joystick and perform what you are reading in the sim and of course play around . Flight sims are immensely powerful learning tools and really help learn the basics of aircraft control and even subjects like navigation and communication (if you learn to work the sim). I think X-Plane is best for aerodynamics and control whereas Flight Sim X not nearly as good in aerodynamics but is more realistic in communications and easier to use for navigation. Get the demos for both and just see which works easier for you.