I remember standing outside the class every morning during the flag salute. That's where the teacher wanted me because her kids were in the military and she did not want to be offended by seeing me not saying the pledge.
I hated always having to do something "alternative" to whatever holiday activity was being done at school. If everybody else was coloring pictures of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, then I was coloring a picture of a kid playing in the snow or something.
I remember constantly saying prayers in my head asking forgiveness for my bad thoughts- in grade school! How normal is that for a kid?