What are the major differences between Notebooking and Lapbooking? I don't know exactly what either of them are. 
Both are a "scrapbook" method of displaying ones study. You add graphics, drawings, etc to your research and work. Maybe charts or maps ... whatever you might need to display your work. Notebooking is done in a notebook. Lapbooking is done in a larger folder, or I use poster board. Cut and folded into a folder, it's larger than a file folder. Some people have their kid's notebooks comb bound when they are done, as a book or "their" study. Nice addition to portfolios and impressive to look at.
I am using notebooking for science, as my children will add their experiment charts, plus research and photos we take or pictures from the internet that help explain the concepts or their own drawings. Notebooks are traditionally used for older students who need to add more detail...but lapbooking is by no means limited to younger students.
Lapbooking, I think, is more creative. You make folded mini books to creatively display what you are learning. All of which are glued into a large lapbook or folder to display the contents.
The learning goes on in the mini books, the large folder is just a way to pull it all together.
We are enjoying it immensely. I am amazed at what my kids are picking up while doing this...much more than from just listening or reading. I am in the middle of dinner, but later I would be glad to add some specific examples of what my children are working on.
I am using notebooking for science, as my children will add their experiment charts, plus research and photos we take or pictures from the internet that help explain the concepts or their own drawings. Notebooks are traditionally used for older students who need to add more detail...but lapbooking is by no means limited to younger students.
Lapbooking, I think, is more creative. You make folded mini books to creatively display what you are learning. All of which are glued into a large lapbook or folder to display the contents.
The learning goes on in the mini books, the large folder is just a way to pull it all together.
We are enjoying it immensely. I am amazed at what my kids are picking up while doing this...much more than from just listening or reading. I am in the middle of dinner, but later I would be glad to add some specific examples of what my children are working on.
Oh! Thanks, quiltinmommy, for the details. 
We use the mini-books, different folds, tabs, and flip books for our notebooks. To me they are about the same. One is in a folder, the other in a notebook 
. Lots of fun.
. Lots of fun.
Donna,
I'll give you a couple of links that may give you some examples of lapbooking and notebooking:
Lapbooking
http://www.geocities.com/gibsevengang/lapbooks.html
http://justdawne.tripod.com/lapbooks.htm
http://www.geocities.com/mamabrown_1122/lapbooks.htm
Notebooking:
http://homeschoolinformation.com/Articles/portfilios.htm
http://www.ignitethefire.com/fuel.html
I wrote a chapter titled, *Lapbooking vs. Notebooking* for a friend's homeschooling book. The title may have been Notebooking vs. Lapbooking.
Anyway, basically, lapbooking is more contained, often used for more of a single subject matter, and contained in a shutter book, or lapbook type of thing (folded file folder usually). For example, we made lapbooks for our study on The Iroquois Indians when we were doing our NY State study.
But notebooking is more general, or when you want it to be a bit more ongoing. For example, we COULD be making notebooks for INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA.
We do our notebooking in three ring binders, and if we want to divide them, we use binder dividers of some kind. And we use file folders for lapbooking. The term lapbook was coined by Tammy DuBay Tobin's Lab.
Dinah Zike is a teacher, who started *lapbooks*, which she calls project books. She has helped teachers to learn to teach a bit differently, not just with *dittoed worksheets* that she feels as a teacher does not do the best job in helping her students to learn. Her web site is here: http://www.dinah.com/ Her Big Book of Books is the first to buy to begin lapbooking. Although I see Tammy DuBay of Tobin's Lab has a nice new book called Ultimate Lapbook Handbook that would most likely be very good as well. I heard her give a lapbooking presentation at our state homeschool convention.
My children each also keep a notebook that they add to whenever they feel like it. In fact, our oldest was just adding to his WWII weapons and vehicles notebook this past week.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
I'll give you a couple of links that may give you some examples of lapbooking and notebooking:
Lapbooking
http://www.geocities.com/gibsevengang/lapbooks.html
http://justdawne.tripod.com/lapbooks.htm
http://www.geocities.com/mamabrown_1122/lapbooks.htm
Notebooking:
http://homeschoolinformation.com/Articles/portfilios.htm
http://www.ignitethefire.com/fuel.html
I wrote a chapter titled, *Lapbooking vs. Notebooking* for a friend's homeschooling book. The title may have been Notebooking vs. Lapbooking.
Anyway, basically, lapbooking is more contained, often used for more of a single subject matter, and contained in a shutter book, or lapbook type of thing (folded file folder usually). For example, we made lapbooks for our study on The Iroquois Indians when we were doing our NY State study.
But notebooking is more general, or when you want it to be a bit more ongoing. For example, we COULD be making notebooks for INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA.
We do our notebooking in three ring binders, and if we want to divide them, we use binder dividers of some kind. And we use file folders for lapbooking. The term lapbook was coined by Tammy DuBay Tobin's Lab.
Dinah Zike is a teacher, who started *lapbooks*, which she calls project books. She has helped teachers to learn to teach a bit differently, not just with *dittoed worksheets* that she feels as a teacher does not do the best job in helping her students to learn. Her web site is here: http://www.dinah.com/ Her Big Book of Books is the first to buy to begin lapbooking. Although I see Tammy DuBay of Tobin's Lab has a nice new book called Ultimate Lapbook Handbook that would most likely be very good as well. I heard her give a lapbooking presentation at our state homeschool convention.
My children each also keep a notebook that they add to whenever they feel like it. In fact, our oldest was just adding to his WWII weapons and vehicles notebook this past week.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
Elaine, I'll have to get some pictures together ... don't let me forget.
Thank you very much Tracy!
Tracy,
I'll have to come back and check on your sites another time when I don't have so much going on
I'm really interested in this and I think that my kids will want to do this as they like being creative - much like their Dad but not me
So glad that there are so many families that are willing to share what works for them so that I can learn from what they've done
I'll have to come back and check on your sites another time when I don't have so much going on
I'm really interested in this and I think that my kids will want to do this as they like being creative - much like their Dad but not me So glad that there are so many families that are willing to share what works for them so that I can learn from what they've done
Thanks! These links really help explain it. I think my kids would really like the notebooking especially since it is something that doesn't have to have a definite finishing deadline.
Thanks for sharing the links. I also was wondering what the difference was between notebooking and lapbooking.
If anyone really wants to get started in either style and doesn't know where to begin, join a yahoo group. There are lots of groups for notebooking and one I know of for sure on lapbooking, I am on the lapbooking one ... as well as many others. You don't have to get the mail in your mailbox, just join as "no mail" and read the posts as you are able on the site, as some of these groups are very busy. The best part of these groups are the "files and photos" sections. Most are filled with handy info to get you started. Your kids will have more fun schooling and may even learn a handy and fun lifelong skill!
Well isn't this interesting? I have four sets of old (really old...like 60's) child craft books, and 30 yrs worth of National Geographic's I need to do something with... I've never head of this before, but it sounds like something my kids would love!! Thanks for the info!
It looks like a scrapbook??? And from what I read up top too it looks like it acts as one too?? I must be missing something
Yeah, kind of. It holds things like little envelopes, pockets, flaps, puzzles pieces, etc. Scrapbooks you just look at, where lapbooks you interact with 
.
.
That is really neat..do they take a long time to do? They look like something my kids would really get into...
Ok I think I am getting it a bit, can you give me some examples of this interact stuff? Sorry to be a pain hehe..I tried looking at the web sites listed but it was to slow on my dial up trying to get them up with all the graphic stuff.
I have done both with my children and both are very great learning tools. I prefer my children to PRODUCE their learning material rather than to consume them--if that makes any sense 
Since you have gotten a great deal of good info on lapbooking I would only add to it that I have found the "mini" books and the lapbooks very handy for just about any subject you want your children to remember. I make lapbooks for my younger preschoolers and they are very much enjoyed--I made one on spiders that was a BIG hit and am currently making a "Goodnight Moon" one for my 3 yo to teach him some basic skills like right/left, his phone number and address, time, etc etc. If you want to do this I would highly suggest you purchase your own copy of Dinah ZIke's "Big Book of Books" and either rent or buy the video. I rented a copy of one of her older videos (this was back before the lapbooking rage hit) and it opened up a gold mine of possibilities that simply escaped me when I was just looking at the book itself. Tobin's Lab offers a free info sheet and you can purchase a sample blank lapbook for a very nominal fee of $2-3. YOu can also rent the video from them. I think Susan has also produced her own lapbooking video on the lapbooks themselves.
Now on to notebooking---
We have really enjoyed notebooking and it really doesn't take a great deal of time to do--the children can be easily trained to be responsible for keeping up with their work this way. It also makes for a very nice portfolio and you can see much better the improvement each child makes over time. I was so glad to have had my daughter's notebook to take when we were having her evaluated for learning disabilities. It is also great to have if you have disapproving or distant relatives. THey can actually "see" what your children have "done in school"--we do not use much in the way of curriculum/workbooks or texts, so since we have started notebooking they do have some concrete evidence of what they have learned. Plus I have noticed that my dc take much more pride in their work to see it showcased in this manner.
Notebooking is great for things that you can't get into lapbooks or mini books easily. It is great for daily work--you can even insert some workbook pages in there. We put copywork, artwork, Book lists, audio book lists, video/computer game lists, narrations the children have dictated to me and I have typed up on the computer and printed out using colorful inks, fun fonts, and pretty paper. We put nature stuff--dreid flowers, leaves, feathers, etc, coloring pages, maps we have labeled and colored, end of unit math tests, math drills, timelines, reference materials like counting charts, phonics charts, handwriting guides, etc. I print off pretty papers and forms from this site using pretty colored and bordered papers. My children often illustrate their copywork and narrations using different media, clip art (we cut up a lot of old textbooks and magazines), stickers, etc. photos of field trips and projects, and the list goes on and on...
We slip it into sheet protectors. We use dividers to keep things organized and quite frequently a section evolves into a whole other notebook. SOmetimes we put things into the binder that we come back later and finish--like one spring we gathered and pressed all the wildflowers we could find. THen we ID'ed them and glued them onto colorful papers. I found some poems that we about some of the flowers and my daughter copied some of them for copywork and mounted them on the paper the flower was on. There are still some flowers she has not yet done anything more and the blank paper with the mounted flower is there. This happens a lot.
But that is the beauty about notebooking--when interest lags, you can move on to something else and come back and finish it later.
I also put divider pockets in my dc's binder to hold their little mini books, and other stuff that won't fit into a sheet protector.
I print off so much stuff from the internet and assemble what I want them to be working on daily on their personal clipboard.
Then when the work is done--they slip it into their binder -I already have it loaded with sheet protectors in sections. It keeps things so neat!
Can't you see we really are into this??
I got not just the Girl Scouts started with notebooking, but the Boy scout troop AND now the Tiger cubs and the GA at Church. I made a binder for each of my children to keep their stuff and it caught on and became "required".
I apologize for rattling on for so long
and I really wish I had some pictures of some of the binder pages my dc have done--it really give them a chance to unleash their creativity and make their schoolwork their own!
HTH!!
Blessings,
Trish
Since you have gotten a great deal of good info on lapbooking I would only add to it that I have found the "mini" books and the lapbooks very handy for just about any subject you want your children to remember. I make lapbooks for my younger preschoolers and they are very much enjoyed--I made one on spiders that was a BIG hit and am currently making a "Goodnight Moon" one for my 3 yo to teach him some basic skills like right/left, his phone number and address, time, etc etc. If you want to do this I would highly suggest you purchase your own copy of Dinah ZIke's "Big Book of Books" and either rent or buy the video. I rented a copy of one of her older videos (this was back before the lapbooking rage hit) and it opened up a gold mine of possibilities that simply escaped me when I was just looking at the book itself. Tobin's Lab offers a free info sheet and you can purchase a sample blank lapbook for a very nominal fee of $2-3. YOu can also rent the video from them. I think Susan has also produced her own lapbooking video on the lapbooks themselves.
Now on to notebooking---
We have really enjoyed notebooking and it really doesn't take a great deal of time to do--the children can be easily trained to be responsible for keeping up with their work this way. It also makes for a very nice portfolio and you can see much better the improvement each child makes over time. I was so glad to have had my daughter's notebook to take when we were having her evaluated for learning disabilities. It is also great to have if you have disapproving or distant relatives. THey can actually "see" what your children have "done in school"--we do not use much in the way of curriculum/workbooks or texts, so since we have started notebooking they do have some concrete evidence of what they have learned. Plus I have noticed that my dc take much more pride in their work to see it showcased in this manner.
Notebooking is great for things that you can't get into lapbooks or mini books easily. It is great for daily work--you can even insert some workbook pages in there. We put copywork, artwork, Book lists, audio book lists, video/computer game lists, narrations the children have dictated to me and I have typed up on the computer and printed out using colorful inks, fun fonts, and pretty paper. We put nature stuff--dreid flowers, leaves, feathers, etc, coloring pages, maps we have labeled and colored, end of unit math tests, math drills, timelines, reference materials like counting charts, phonics charts, handwriting guides, etc. I print off pretty papers and forms from this site using pretty colored and bordered papers. My children often illustrate their copywork and narrations using different media, clip art (we cut up a lot of old textbooks and magazines), stickers, etc. photos of field trips and projects, and the list goes on and on...
We slip it into sheet protectors. We use dividers to keep things organized and quite frequently a section evolves into a whole other notebook. SOmetimes we put things into the binder that we come back later and finish--like one spring we gathered and pressed all the wildflowers we could find. THen we ID'ed them and glued them onto colorful papers. I found some poems that we about some of the flowers and my daughter copied some of them for copywork and mounted them on the paper the flower was on. There are still some flowers she has not yet done anything more and the blank paper with the mounted flower is there. This happens a lot.
But that is the beauty about notebooking--when interest lags, you can move on to something else and come back and finish it later.
I also put divider pockets in my dc's binder to hold their little mini books, and other stuff that won't fit into a sheet protector.
I print off so much stuff from the internet and assemble what I want them to be working on daily on their personal clipboard.
Then when the work is done--they slip it into their binder -I already have it loaded with sheet protectors in sections. It keeps things so neat!Can't you see we really are into this??
I got not just the Girl Scouts started with notebooking, but the Boy scout troop AND now the Tiger cubs and the GA at Church. I made a binder for each of my children to keep their stuff and it caught on and became "required".
I apologize for rattling on for so long
and I really wish I had some pictures of some of the binder pages my dc have done--it really give them a chance to unleash their creativity and make their schoolwork their own!HTH!!
Blessings,
Trish
I am not much into scrapbooking and have very little in the way of scrapbooking supplies---and what we have has come mainly from those everything is a dollar or 88Cents stores. BUT notebooking does dovetail very nicely with scrapbooking and you can use a lot of the supplies---die cut outs, stickers, pretty paper and card stock, the scissors and stencils, punches, rubber stamps etc. But we usually don't get all that fancy.
Now I am a wee bit confused here-
Are you wondering how one interacts with the lapbooks?? Or are you saying that you don't see how one can interact with notebooking??
TO answer the first question, in DInah Zike's "Big Book of Books" she gives directions on how to make all kinds of nifty little booklets out of plain 'ol paper--mostly by making a series of simple folds and cutting here and there and gluing this place and that. Most are simple enough for the average 5 yo to do, some require a wee bit more dexterity, but all are very simply to do. Once you make your "mini" books as she calls them you can use them to write, draw, paste, and decorate all kinds of information in them on any subject. These books fold out, lift flaps, etc in all kind of of ways and they are of different sizes. You can also make shaped books, too. If you make a bunch of these mini books in the course of studying a particular subject or book (we used to do one for the subjects we covered in each of our FIAR books that we rowed) then you can affix them in a file folder, again folded a way to make a cover and then you can interact with them
by lifting flaps, unfolding, turning, etc etc.
I have a dinosaur computer and dial up, too, and I know it takes forever for a page of photos to load
, but in the cause of lapbooks, a picture is TRULY worth a thousand words---they are one of those things you really have to see 
I would highly recommend that you take a few minutes when you have time to sit down with a cuppa your favorite beverage and look through the pictures--then you will begin to see what we mean. Words just don't do them justice!
Tish,
You need more enthusiasm when you discuss notebooking Just kidding
You sure know how to get someone interested in what interests you. I've been wanting to do this for/with my kids just haven't quite been able to figure out how to do it. I went to the link you provided in your first post and printed out Cindy's message on notebooking. I'll be reading it later today. I think that I'll also go and take a look later today at the lapbooking & notebooking links from the beginning of this topic.
Thanks for all your suggestions and enthusiasm for this topic
You need more enthusiasm when you discuss notebooking
Just kidding You sure know how to get someone interested in what interests you. I've been wanting to do this for/with my kids just haven't quite been able to figure out how to do it. I went to the link you provided in your first post and printed out Cindy's message on notebooking. I'll be reading it later today. I think that I'll also go and take a look later today at the lapbooking & notebooking links from the beginning of this topic.
Thanks for all your suggestions and enthusiasm for this topic
QUOTE (AKHomemom @ Oct 1 2004, 02:58 PM)
Thanks for all your suggestions and enthusiasm for this topic
It was very informative 
I wanted to thank you all for telling me about notebooking. My daughter who has now finished her scrapbook of 50 states postcards is now doing a "State book" and is starting all over again. Except now she will be studying more that she is older and can do more.
With the scrapbook we discussed where it was on globe, maps the state/country. Now we can add more things to it like more facts, latitude, time zones foods, etc...
We wrote the chamber of commerce for our first state Alabama and I know they will send us tons of stuff to look at from that state to include in our 3 binder notebook. Daughter has already colored the state from the crayola site and has done a crossword puzzle and hidden word puzzle from the state and she proudly punched holes in it from a three hole puncher and added some reinforcement tabs to hold it in place. We also have those clear see through protectors for special things.
Dad will teach her about Latitude and Longitude with examples to include in the notebook, while I do a history timeline with her to include in it too. We plan to put historical postcards into the notebook from people from that state and maybe have them write her a letter telling us about their state. The ideas are endless.
I am very grateful to y'all for letting me know about this. I even got a lot of my postcard kids members doing one too.
With the scrapbook we discussed where it was on globe, maps the state/country. Now we can add more things to it like more facts, latitude, time zones foods, etc...
We wrote the chamber of commerce for our first state Alabama and I know they will send us tons of stuff to look at from that state to include in our 3 binder notebook. Daughter has already colored the state from the crayola site and has done a crossword puzzle and hidden word puzzle from the state and she proudly punched holes in it from a three hole puncher and added some reinforcement tabs to hold it in place. We also have those clear see through protectors for special things.
Dad will teach her about Latitude and Longitude with examples to include in the notebook, while I do a history timeline with her to include in it too. We plan to put historical postcards into the notebook from people from that state and maybe have them write her a letter telling us about their state. The ideas are endless.
I am very grateful to y'all for letting me know about this. I even got a lot of my postcard kids members doing one too.
we are just starting our science notebook, Noah is in 1st grade this year. we are studying the water cycle. We read MSB at the Waterworks. So I think I will reread it slower and have him draw pictures of it like the kids do in the book. I will write down facts for him since he is not reading or writing much yet. We hate worksheets in my house so notebooking is in. I also went to a scrapbook party yesterday and bought a book just on ideas so I will use that many times over the next few years I'm sure.
Since Noah is so young i just picked up a crayola spiral bound sketchbook for our notbook. I hate lines when we are drawing
Eventually we will move to a binder thing but for now, I want/need simplicity.
Since Noah is so young i just picked up a crayola spiral bound sketchbook for our notbook. I hate lines when we are drawing
Eventually we will move to a binder thing but for now, I want/need simplicity.
And here I had my kids notebooking thinking it was the same thing! No wonder we're not getting anywhere! Considering they are 8 and 6 (the oldest 2)... 
Okay, it's going to be a new year, a new year, a...
Okay, it's going to be a new year, a new year, a...
I love it I can't wait for Jan. I asked the kids about doing this and my daughter is already to start she even thinking of using black construction paper for her pages and using a foam centered poster board covered with material & batting and cross stitch her name on it and binding her book with a leather cord ( I can't type as fast as she talks) Great ideas she wants to check-out the sites now.
Elem Science Yahoo group
Jeannie Fulbright's webpage
Boy, I sure am having a hard time getting these links posted tonite.
The first one is a yahoo group for anyone using Apologia Elementary Science books (Astronomy, Botany, and Zoology is soon to be released). There are some excellent printable pages for astronomy and for botany notebooking. If you don't want to sign up for a yahoo group...these pages are also available in a pdf on her website under Course Extras.
The second link is to Jeannie Fulbright's (author of above mentioned books) website. If you look down the left menu, you'll find a link for notebooking. Includes some pictures and some good instructions.
Jeannie Fulbright's webpage
Boy, I sure am having a hard time getting these links posted tonite.
The first one is a yahoo group for anyone using Apologia Elementary Science books (Astronomy, Botany, and Zoology is soon to be released). There are some excellent printable pages for astronomy and for botany notebooking. If you don't want to sign up for a yahoo group...these pages are also available in a pdf on her website under Course Extras.
The second link is to Jeannie Fulbright's (author of above mentioned books) website. If you look down the left menu, you'll find a link for notebooking. Includes some pictures and some good instructions.
Thank you for sharing this Sheri! I have a plan for this next school year, but after that I think I will check out these books ... the downloads are incredilble... what a resource!
O.K. that's it. I'm sold on Apologia. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
QUOTE (Sherinova @ May 22 2005, 07:47 PM)
There are some excellent printable pages for astronomy and for botany notebooking. If you don't want to sign up for a yahoo group...these pages are also available in a pdf on her website under Course Extras.
Thank you for sharing this Sheri! I have a plan for this next school year, but after that I think I will check out these books ... the downloads are incredilble... what a resource! I will have dh look at this. Right now where using alot of different things from the library. I'm ready to get the books.
Wow!! I didn't know this was out there! What a great site. We use Apologia for the older grades, but plan to use it in a couple years for the younger grades. She has a ton of great information. I especially loved the page she wrote on young entrepreneurs. (dd's are trying to raise money for mission trips & camp.)
I wanted to bump this up since Tristain had asked. In doing so I just remembered you all wanted to see our hurricane lapbooks and I haven't taken pictures yet 
.
I am currently preparing a Washington DC lapbook to do with my co-op. It's turning out to be a HUGE endeavor, mostly because I am doing a lot more prep work than I do for my own children. I'm planning the books and preparing them. The kids will assemble them, gluing, filling in the blanks info to add to them and coloring. But in just three 45 minute sessions ... I don't see how I can do it any other way. After I signed up I had wished I had signed up to do this over 5 weeks, rather than 3...but due to my medical tests I can't do that so I am just going to go with it. Not to mention, if I had more time, I would probably make more mini-books rather than do less prep work ... I still think each one will look very different, as each child will make them their own.
I have the first mini-book designed... I am making the pages to put in the mini-book on my computer adding line drawings with my copier for the coloring.
Only 4 left to go and a ton of cutting, hole punching and general prep work! Mind you I am offering this to 10 students!
.I am currently preparing a Washington DC lapbook to do with my co-op. It's turning out to be a HUGE endeavor, mostly because I am doing a lot more prep work than I do for my own children. I'm planning the books and preparing them. The kids will assemble them, gluing, filling in the blanks info to add to them and coloring. But in just three 45 minute sessions ... I don't see how I can do it any other way. After I signed up I had wished I had signed up to do this over 5 weeks, rather than 3...but due to my medical tests I can't do that so I am just going to go with it. Not to mention, if I had more time, I would probably make more mini-books rather than do less prep work ... I still think each one will look very different, as each child will make them their own.
I have the first mini-book designed... I am making the pages to put in the mini-book on my computer adding line drawings with my copier for the coloring.
Only 4 left to go and a ton of cutting, hole punching and general prep work! Mind you I am offering this to 10 students!
Thank you Barbara Sue, I appreciate you thinking of me This has been great to read. I have learned so much, and what informative sites I can't wait to be able to sit down a bit longer and really get into them. You certainly sound very busy with all that you have to do. Good luck in finishing everything.
This has been great to read. I have learned so much, and what informative sites I can't wait to be able to sit down a bit longer and really get into them. You certainly sound very busy with all that you have to do. Good luck in finishing everything.
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