I'm not sure that anyone really knows a specific person who invented them. There is a good article about them here http://www.cedu.niu.edu/blackwell/books.html, which you might find interesting, talking a little bit about why they were invented, and the people who invented them were interested in teaching children without a huge expense... so perhaps the poor invented them?
Hornbooks were made from hairs of animals
from the 16th to 17th century
They used it to teach with
textbooks
well i had the same queastion for my abc book and the children learn from their hornbooks and milk cows etc. hope that can help!
because they didn't have math books or binder or folders so the had to use these to use and they didn't have any money so the had to hunt to get horn-books
Found the answer Hornsmith-used animal horn, softened it, flattened it into sheets, clarified it and made tortoise shell combs, buttons, hornbooks. Definition from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1989/5/89.05.02.x.html
Colonial children learned to read by using "The Hornbook." The hornbook was used for instruction. Usually it contained the alphabet, a syllabary, numerals, and the Lord's Prayer. Hornbooks contained printed sheets of text, that was mounted on wood and covered with translucent animal horn, which was used to teach reading and numbers. The books were in the shape of a paddle. These tools for learning remained popular into the 1700's, when the battledore, a lesson book made up of folded paper or cardboard, became more prevalent. Like hornbooks, battledores usually contained the alphabet, numerals, proverbs or prayers.
The Puritans primarily used the Bible as the core textbook for education. They also used catechisms, such as the Westminster Shorter Catechism, to teach religious beliefs and values. Additionally, they utilized hornbooks, which were wooden paddles with printed lessons covered with a transparent horn sheet.
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They used slate boards to write with slate pencils also older children would use paper and ink wells with a thin wooden stick and steel needles.
A hornbook was a basic educational tool used in the past to teach children the alphabet, numbers, and basic prayers. It consisted of a sheet of parchment or paper with these elements attached and covered with a thin, transparent piece of horn to protect it. Children would use it to practice reading and writing.