[calex59]

Well, if it helps, I was reading at 5, my mother took me to the library and obtained a library card for me. I read everything I could get my hands on and by the time I entered the first grade, Dick and Jane bored me silly. I was reading at least the 7th grade level by then. Precocious 11 yo children are probably more numerous than you think. I wasn't a genious either, having an IQ of 141. It was just something about reading that seemed incredibly easy to me. I also understood many political ramifications when I was about 10 or so. Perhaps because my family were all Democrats but were southern democrats and were strongly in favor of freedom and individual rights.

I eventually became a Republican as the dems started changing for the worse.

[ladyjane]

I wasn't a genious either

LOL

[stormer]

LMAO!

[TalonDJ]

I was reading at 5

5? Slacker.

[reformedliberal]

Me, too. And my IQ is only 136.

IQ doesn’t matter after about age 20 or so....maybe earlier. It is a product of certain exams. I believe it measures potential.

I was 11 during the Sherman Adams, vicuna coat scandal. I used to watch the TV hearings after school until my kid brother whined enough that I switched to Huckleberry Hound.

My family were FDR Democrats with a government job. Needless to say, they were certain I was going to get my father in some sort of political trouble.

I did my time on the Left and learned to loathe them. I can only imagine what it must be like to encounter their crap every single day in school, on TV and from your peers, as well as family.

It is more than possible for bright children to read at an adult level and comprehend basic political dissonances at a very early age.

[SoftballMominVA]

I have no problem believing you were reading at 5. I entered Kindergarten at 4 reading several grades above my level. Back then there was no formal testing to say "She is reading at ____ level." I remember reading the original Heidi book over and over when I was 5. My mom used that as proof to my dad that buying me books wouldn't be a waste of money.

My mother doesn't even know when I started reading to myself, but she remembers my reading a book to my brother when he was 3 and I was almost 4. How far ahead of that I was reading is anyone’s guess.

And no, I don't consider myself a genius, but I was precocious in language arts, and the opposite in math.

Oddly enough, my mom says she read to me very little when I was young. She was 18 when she had me, 18.10 months when she had my brother, so she was busy to say the least. I just learned.