[TheSpottedOwl]

Just curious, but did you go to parochial school? I did, and that's one thing I came away with...spelling skills. I learned more in Catholic school in 5 years, than I did the remaining 7 years of public school. My kids are reasonably intelligent, but their spelling and grammar makes me pull my hair out.

I was also a bookworm growing up. I remember that we had "free reading" during 5th grade, so I chose "The Rise And Fall of the Third Reich". By the time I was done pestering Mrs. Harrison on the proper pronunciation of "obersturbengroupenfuhrer", The book disappeared, never to be seen again. That's the thing. I wasn't allowed to watch too much tv...maybe that's the problem with kids today. My youngest kids read the articles with me here on Free Republic. I lure them in with the funny pics ;-)

I'll keep an eye out for that dictionary. We need a new one.

[handk]

No, I went to public school, K-12. As a kid, I took to reading early on. Although I read a lot of books, the three that stand out in my memory are: Logan's Run (3rd grade), Lord of the Flies (5th grade) and 1984 (6th grade).

I remember the day when, in fifth grade, we were supposed to show up with our book selection. My fifth grade teacher was a woman straight out of "central casting", someone who would be called "Mrs. Crabapple" or the like. She started walking up and down the rows of desks viewing and commenting upon the the books my classmates had selected.

She was nodding and approving of all of them, all of them being mostly fifth grade level drivel.

Then she got to my desk, saw Lord of the Rings, and literally freaked out. She read me the "riot act" and demanded I select a more "suitable" book to read for our book report assignment. I pretended to "succumb", and of course, read the book anyway.

[William Martel]

Is this thread STILL going?

This thing made my day. I was bored until I saw this and made my satire. LOL