Skype connects families around the globe!

I recently had the experience of talking with my family in Costa Rica via Skype.  It was so much fun seeing and hearing family members in real time!  I found myself wanting to get and extension cord for our camera so I could give them a tour of the home, yard work, and other improvement jobs that were going on.  It was great to see the nieces and nephews and how much they have grown.  Everybody, young and old, had fun laughing and talking together.  It was as if we were there in their living room.  The only down fall is that it made me real home sick for a visit!
Although this is a personal use of Skype, there are several ways I can see using it in the classroom.  The following ar some ideas:
Share presentations live with family members that are not able to come to the school.
Communicate with "pen pal" friends.
Share lessons with another school. (ie: learning a foriegn language)
Send a class message to a student that has been absent for a prolonged amount of time. (ie: a get well to someone who is hospitalized).
Have class participate in a real time interview with an author, politition, or other person related to subject matter being taught at the time).
I look forward to using Skype again.