In Story of the World, we just finished learning about bards and monks and about how monks spent hours a day for years copying books. How they often drew elaborate and beautiful art in the margins of their books. Although I value the printing press and what it's done for the duplication of books, it is a shame that we've lost some of that beauty and uniqueness in books!

We followed our textbook study with an independent read for Alex of Fritz's The Man Who Loved Books. A cute story about the Irish saint Columba. Then we read Robertson's Marguerite Makes a Book aloud and enjoyed the beauty of the book as well as the story of determination, initiative, and responsibility. Following this, the kids got to make their own quill pens with which they then created their artwork. We began with just some ink a la grape juice concentrate, but upon demand I was forced to bring out the Kool-Aid and food coloring.