Since I was born in 1960, I was a "good student". Only boys were smart at that time. There was no such thing as gifted. My father was a "genius" - another out-of-date term.
We only had private kinder and I attended that, but it was just for play. I read early, against my mother's judgment. She was a first grade teacher and they did not advise that back then. We had all the books at home - Dick, Jane, and Sally. I just kept asking what a certain word meant until I figured it out. I guess I "bugged" her into teaching me.
I had a great first grade teacher and she let me have my own reading group. Of course, we had high, medium, and low back then. I worked with various ones - mostly medium. They did not really test levels that much before computers, but she knew that I had read through the books and could help the other students.
I totally loved it. I enjoyed being the teacher and have been this in every phase of my life. I can usually understand something fairly fast and others come to me for questions.
I usually got more out of a "unit" than others, but enjoyed it. Around third grade, students began disliking me for my abilities and that hurt. I never bragged, but there was this girl-jealousy thing.
Most of all, my parents took me to museums and other trips that stimulated my interest. I read a lot of biography when I was young. We had no internet back then, so I went to libraries to look up topics.
