The "Sugar Babies" were used in conjunction with the health curriculum, said Sharon Fox, the class' teacher, explaining the babies were used to teach responsibility.

Since the chromosome that determines a baby's sex is contributed by the father, the boys randomly chose their baby's sex by drawing from a hat.

In addition to single births to two partners, a few pupils became single parents, and several couples were presented with two bundles of sweetness.

"It was all in the luck of the draw," Fox said.

The "parents" had to care for their babies for a week, and Fox said the "grandparents" really got into the act as well -- they babysat the little bundles, and some went so far as to wake up the "parents" at night or interrupted their meals to tell them their baby was crying or needed changing.

Joe Gorsuch and Vanessa Einck were shocked to learn they had become the proud parents of twins.

"I was really surprised, I wasn't sure I'd be able to carry them both around," said Einck.

"I was glad they were twins, we had a boy and a girl, but they were a lot of work," said Gorsuch.

Chris Farnham, a single father, noted, "It was hard not having someone to help."

Toni Leeney and Jessie Clapp were single mothers, but they helped each other.

When asked if they thought they were ready to handle a real infant the response was almost unanimous.

"It was hard enough taking care of two sacks of sugar, I don't think I could take care of a real one," said Katie Henley.

Some of the pupils thought that if the babies had been real they would have had to give up a lot of their activities.

"I had a game I had to go to, and my mom wanted to see it as well, so I had to pay my cousin to baby-sit," said Brian Strong.

In between feeling uncomfortable because they were toting around headless babies, and worried when they lost track of their sacks, the lesson was brought home to the class that having a real baby is a lot of work and responsibility.

"The project was everything I had hoped it would be," said Fox.

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