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Sometimes, Wanda and Abby Horton study together.

While not unusual, this is a little different because they're mother and daughter.

"There have been a few times where we were studying for our biology test," Abby said. "If it were a test over four or five chapters, we would study silently and then we would tell each other different techniques of how to study for something and give tips on how to remember a certain answer."

Added Wanda: "And then you get so tired you just get silly."

With goals of becoming elementary school teachers, the Hortons entered Northwest Mississippi Community College at DeSoto Center in Southaven in 2002. They received two-year degrees from NWCC and are now both juniors at the University of Mississippi at the center.

Wanda attended classes the last two summers and is now a semester ahead of her daughter. However, they have one class together this spring, introduction to special education, and as usual they sit beside each other in the class.

Abby, a Horn Lake High School graduate, said that when they were about to start college together, some friends made fun of her.

"They would say, 'Oh, you and your mom are going to go to school together and sit next to each other.' And I was like, 'Yeah, it'll be fun.' I don't care. It is fun."

Wanda said, "This really has been fun doing all of this with her. It is a really good experience."

The Hortons, who live in Walls, already know their way around elementary school classrooms. And both have had a desire to be teachers since they were children.

Wanda was a DeSoto County Schools bus driver for 14 years. She has also been a teacher's assistant in the school district for several years. Abby is in her second year as a teacher's assistant at Hope Sullivan Elementary School.

Wanda said she became a bus driver because of Abby.

"This one wanted to ride the bus, and I wouldn't put her on unless I was driving," she said. "When she didn't want to ride any more, I continued driving."

One day when she was driving for Horn Lake Intermediate School, Danny Freeze, who was then the school's principal, met her on the parking lot and asked her to become a teacher's assistant at the school.

She said she wasn't sure she wanted to, but Freeze asked her to give it a try and she did.

"I loved it," Wanda said. "I gave it a couple of years and he (Freeze) said, 'I think you should go back to school and be a teacher. You would be really great at it.' With his encouragement, my husband's support and the support of my family, I said I would try it."

While attending college, Wanda continues to work as a teacher's assistant at Horn Lake Intermediate.

Wanda said many people in the family of her husband, Ricky Horton, are teachers. Her husband is a truck driver, an occupation that has "served him well," Wanda said. "He is fabulous at what he does."

Abby said her desire to become a teacher comes from "just being little and playing school and always being around my family. Everybody has taught, and ever since I was little, I have wanted to teach."

The Hortons have another daughter, Emily, 18, a senior at Horn Lake High School, who plans to enter the Air Force after graduation.

Wanda also has a son, Jeremy Polston, 30, who returned a year and a half ago from Army duty in Iraq, where he received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.