i was a sickly child, and spent a lot of time indoors, but i too:

1) was taught to build and maintain a fire.
2) owned a pocketknife, and even whittled!
3) er, ok, maybe not so much on the “throwing”. little american girls did not throw in the 60’s/early 70’s. (and can i just say how funny it was to hear an american guy say la-BOR-a tory!)
4) not so much on the taking things apart either – again, not something encouraged for girls, and i had no brothers
5) yes, broke dmca all the time! radio to cassette, 45 to cassette, trading said cassettes, etc!
5.5) started driving early, though not nearly as early as you! my girlfriend had an older boyfriend, and we would take the school bus as far as his work, then drive his car to school. she was always afraid of getting caught, so i did the actual driving. little country town, no big deal; we drove up one whole road, as it was a straight shot from the gas station to the school (does that sound small town or what?). at 14 my father put me behind the wheel, said, “this is the clutch, this is the brake, this is the gas. let me know if you have any problems.” been driving ever since, though i didn’t get my formal license until i was 17.

but the best gift of my childhood was unsupervised free time. i’ll talk more about that on @teachernz.

cheers,
kelly