Wow, I just read today's posts, and it brought back such memories for me. Yes, I read other books during class (although I usually read them at the end of class, after I had finished the homework--I spent the lecture time interacting with the teacher). Yes, I too had a system--any homework I didn't finish in period 1, I finished at the end of period 2. I didn't really understand why other kids brought their books home each night instead of leaving them in their locker like I did--I thought, "Isn't that what a locker is for? To store your school books overnight."

I was blessed that in the 7th grade they took 30 of us from the other 900 and put us in an advanced track. No one called us gifted--just "the advanced track." So I had a group of friends through jr. high and high school who thought like I did, had a similar sense of humor, and who would be known as "geeks" today, but back then we were just the really smart people (who didn't know how to dress well!)

I rarely felt bored, being in the advanced track. Also, whenever I felt bored, I wrote--I wrote a lot of poetry and short stories in high school. I really enjoyed taking notes on lectures--isn't that weird! But in grad school, lots of people studied from my notes. I would type them up, and then people would ask to photocopy them.

I didn't skip a grade exactly--in 9th grade I decided I wanted to graduate a year early. So I skipped 11th grade--I had to petition the school to be allowed to do it, but I couldn't wait to get to college. I had to double up in English my senior year, and I never did take the AP Physics class (since I was taking 2 English classes), but I enjoyed it. True, I wasn't really accepted by the senior class that I moved up to, but I didn't care either--I already had my sights set on college. I took CLEP exams and arrived at college with 12 credits of English, Math, and Science, but that let me "drop out" for a semester my junior year to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

So I don't remember being bored in high school--I would just make up more stuff for me to do.

I DO remember being bored in my college freshman sociology class--I had already studied it in high school--so I sat in the back of the class room and did my Greek homework.

But overall, my academic experience was challenging and enjoyable. That's what makes me confused about my kids. Both are gifted, highly intelligent, whatever the word is today, but both of them hate doing school work. Even though they do it with enough ease (but I also challenge them--they are both one grade advanced for their age, and we use difficult curriculum). I just don't know why they don't have more desire to KNOW and MASTER knowledge. I loved EVERY subject, but neither of my kids has a favorite subject. I can get them to DO their work, but I can't seem to inspire them to LOVE learning. From the start, I've tried to make it fun and enjoyable, but they say, "Mom, I'm not you--I don't like school the way you did." Sometimes I just want to shake them and say, "Look, there's an amazing world around you! Don't you want to know what makes it tick? Don't you want to know what has gotten us to this place in history? Don't you want to know where it is headed tomorrow?" They seem so jaded, and I don't understand it.

So there's one of my Christmas wishes--that my kids would love learning!