My attendance may have been better than yours, but you were probably a better student. ;)
Doubtful. I simply knew that if I didn't get a 3.5, or close to it, my ass was grass. I was an avid reader from the time I was in second grade. My parents didn't mind that it was 99% sports books, they were happy I was reading.
From about 10 years old, I'd listen to the A's or Giants games and keep score, and then update statistics...baseball was great for that. My stepfather bought a lot of other books at flea markets that I found interesting, such as a six volume biographical encyclopedia of American history (published in 1889).
Everything just kind of rolled from there.