Could you please help me with these questions to kind of get me going on this general topic I must write about?

Question

What did children do in the United States before the first compulsory acts were enacted? How, if at all, did they educate themselves? How would anyone learn anything if they weren't required to go to school?

Try looking here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=allintitle%3A++%22history+of+education%22+%22united+states%22

I thought this might be an interesting thing to tell you. One time I met a man who couldn't read or write, but probably knew more about history than most people because he watched the History Channel so often. Also, my Dad never reads any fiction books because he's always reading something about World War 2.

Yes, that is interesting. Thank you.