Expanding my field of study

I have been wanted to learn a second language for quite a while now.  I even signed up for Spanish class a few years ago hoping to achieve that goal.  It was, however, now a successful experience.  I also started taking private French lessons from one of my friends for a brief period.  But life got hectic and I didn't study, so I quit.  And once again I pushed aside one of my goals.

My daughter Melissa is currently serving a full time mission for our church in France.  Isn't she beautiful?

When she left, I thought to myself that I should learn French so that we can speak to each other when she returns.  Well, she has now been out almost a year, and I am no closer to speaking French than I was when she left.  Boo!  :(

Since I wasn't sure I wanted to sign up for another college course, I decided to try an experiment to see if I can teach myself.  So I went online and bought these materials:

I am going to attempt to learn the basics on my own.  I have two goals for this experiment.  I want to be able to speak a little with Melissa when she comes home, and I want to be able to test out of the French 1 college courses.  That way I will be able to skip right to the 2nd year of language requirements next fall when I plan to transfer to a four year university.

I'm starting today.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.