Hornbook

Do you know what a hornbook is? Well, I think they're cool. Here is what I found out about them. They were used in the colonial days at school. It was like those things that people take pizza out of the oven with - a flat board with a handle. It has a page with letters on it and it was not a real book. There was a piece of wood with a page on both sides and protected by a sheet of horn. It was the only school "book" back then used by the younger kids. The page had the alphabet on one side and the other side had some prayers. It didn't have pages to turn. When the children learned to read and write what was on the hornboard, they could leave school. It did not matter (madder) if they could not spell. One time a teacher wrote in a newspaper that he taught "writeing and spilling".

The board had a hole in the top of the handle to you could tie it to your waist and carry it around. I guess this was the first laptop for school.