What is the difference between lapbooking and notebooking?
Lapbooking and notebooking are both popular among homeschoolers now. I will take you through some basic characteristics of each and hopefully answer these questions:
What are these learning methods?
How are they similar?
How are they different?
Which one is best for my child?
Can I mix them up into something new?
photo credit
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Lapbooking & Notebooking
They are both excellent ways to document learning! One may suit a particular child better than the other. Evaluate the features and limitations of each, and choose the best fit for your homeschool situation.
Basic Lapbooks
A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you're not sure what a lapbook is, take some time to look at these lapbook examples.
For more photos of lapbooks, visit the Flickr Lapbooking group.
Common Features of Lapbooks
Lapbooks can be as individual as the students making them, but here are some common characteristics of most lapbooks.
minibooks or foldables -- small books with interesting folds and flaps that just beg to be opened.
all minibooks focus on a central topic
minibooks are affixed into a file folder (or cardstock) folded into a shutterfold
lapbooking offers the opportunity to be creative with colors, folds, graphics, drawings, etc.
lapbooking is highly graphic -- lots of images, drawings, shapes, colors, and pictures.
Common Features of Notebooking
Notebooking is very flexible, so a notebook can contain most anything! But for the sake of explanation, here are some things most people could agree that notebooking commonly has.
Sheets of paper, three hole punched and put into a binder or a pre-bound notebook of lined or unlined paper.
Text is written by the student.
The page has graphics of some kind-- drawn by the student or pre-printed on the page.
A notebook could very broad -- history, science, poetry, nature, 5th grade, etc.
Notebooking is highly text oriented -- lots of written words with graphics to complement them.
Notebook pages can be narrations from your child's reading, copywork, maps, quotes, poems, images cut from magazines or printed from the Internet, drawings, and writing assignments.
Combining Lapbooking and Notebooking
the best of both worlds
What if you want to use both? You certainly can! You can do lapbooks for some topics and make notebooks for others.
Or you can mix them up by putting elements of notebooking into a lapbook or by putting minibooks into a notebook!
Some people call this mixture "lap-n-note."
Ways to do this:
- affix minibooks to cardstock and file in the notebook. Visit Notebooking Pages for some beautiful free templates to help you do this!
- use sheet protectors to hold minibooks in notebooks
- put the entire lapbook into a three ring binder
- poke holes in notebooking pages and use brads/paper fasteners to affix them to the lapbook
- attach the front of a 3 pronged folder to the back of a lapbook; put your notebooking pages into the folder and you minibooks in the traditional lapbook shutterfold.
Clicking on this photo will take you to a nice photo collection of a notebook that includes many elements of lapbooking as well. It appears to me that the notebook is made from large pieces of construction paper.
See these posts below for more ideas and great photos!
- Lap-n-Note for Rocks in His Head
- This blog entry has a slideshow of images taken of their lap-n-note for the book Rocks in His Head. For the pictures (not slideshow) visit this link.
- Combine Lapbooks and Notebooking
- You've got to visit this page! A great example with clear photos of how to combine a lapbook with notebooking! Very nifty!
- Little Homeschool on the Hill
- Here is a creative way to put lapbooks into notebooks by using duct tape!
- View from the Hill
- In this entry, these homeschoolers use a clear page protector and paper fasteners to add notebooking pages to a lapbook. Great photos make her instructions crystal clear.
- Daniel Academy's Maya, Inca, and Aztec Notebook
- "It's not a lap book, it's not a notebook, I guess it's lap/note book thingy...or I'll just call it a folder book." A great slideshow and explanations.
- Peakmore Academy's Examples
- Wow! Here is another site you've got to visit if you're wanting to combing lapbooking with notebooking! Amazing photos. Scroll down to see more and more.
- Homeschooling His Way
- Explanations and photos of how this mom incorporated lapbooking elements into her notebooks.
- Snapshots of Our Lives Blog
- The classic picture book Harry the Dirty Dog is the topic of this lapbook/notebook combination!
- Shades of Pink Blog
- This blog entry is Sheri's notebooking FAQ. She uses spiral bound scrapbooks for her children's notebooks. And inside the notebooks there are lots of lapbooking components. Click on the Five in a Row book titles in the left column to see specific examples of their work.
- The Wonderful Story of Easter
- In this post by Jamin, you'll see how any notebooking page can be made into a a minibook by simply folding it into quarters! Brilliant!
- Adding Foldables to a Notebook
- A public school teacher shows some great examples of how to add foldables (minibooks) to a science notebook. This blog is a great notebooking reference. Browse around.
- Scrapbooks and Lapbooks: The Lapinder
- This mom calls her combination a Lapinder -- a lapbook in a binder. It's so tidy and attractive! A wonderful way to have the best of both worlds.
Mixture of Lapbooking and Notebooking
notebook page with a minibook
notebook page with a minibook
notebooking pages affixed into lapbook
notebooking pages affixed into lapbook
notebooking page with minibook
notebooking page with minibook
notebooking page with matchbook minibooks
notebooking page with matchbook minibooks
notebooking page in a sheet protector.
notebooking page in a lapbook.
lapbook with a notebooking page.
notebooking page with a minibook
notebooking page with a minibook
3D map inside a page protector
So, What Do You Think?
Which one should I use?
When choosing which to use -- lapbooking or notebooking -- here are some things to consider.
- Lapbooks are generally more suitable for smaller projects that will have a definite end to them, for example a unit study (the orchestra, volcanoes, or the rainforest) or a time period within your history curriculum (Colonial America, Ancient Greece, or New World Exploration).
- Notebooking, on the other hand, is often used when a topic or project is more ongoing and will have more related documentation.
- Many people transition from lapbooking to notebooking as their children age.
- Some people think that lapbooking fits a more creative child. Certainly, lapbooking does offer a lot of chances to be creative with colored papers, fancy folds, and artwork. But notebooking can be equally as creative. But if your child despises cutting, pasting, and drawing, you may want to avoid lapbooking or modify it to limit how much of the "crafty" part the child himself has to do.
- Some homeschoolers find certain topics lend themselves better to notebooking or to lapbooking.
The bottom line is that you won't know until you try. So, attempt a bit of each one and choose which one best suits your children.
Books from Amazon
Fun Foldable Projects for Young Scientists
Amazon Price: $13.50 (as of 07/03/2009) 
Used Price: $405.00
The Big Book of Reproducible Graphic Organizers: 50 Great Templates to Help Kids Get More Out of Reading, Writing, Social Studies and More
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 07/03/2009)
Used Price: $5.95
Giant Science Resource Book: Grades 1-6
Amazon Price: $17.81 (as of 07/03/2009)
Used Price: $12.99
Literature Pockets, Greek & Roman Myths, Grades 4-6
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 07/03/2009)
Used Price: $9.99
HS Launch Files
Homeschool Launch is a place for homeschoolers to upload the files they create. You can download them and use them for free! You'll find a lot of notebooking pages, lapbooking resources, and other homeschool organization helps.
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Your feedback is welcome.
And you may also use the contact me feature at the top of the page.
anaturalphenomenon wrote...
Thanks Jimmie! I think I've decided I want to veer toward the Lapbooking, thanks so much for such an informative Lens!
Posted June 23, 2009
Greekgeek wrote...
Veeerry interesting. I didn't know what lapbooking was at all, and finally came over here to get the scoop.
I like it!
I can immediately see how one could use the web to make art and items geared for kids to use in these things.
Posted March 05, 2009
Pastiche wrote...
I like to think of lapbooks as learning scrapbooks - I love 'em. And I think they enrich/encourage/develop creative skills.
Posted February 26, 2009
deldobuss wrote
We use a spiral notebook and include diagrams and printed text glued in next to my daughter's writing. It is not exactly a lapbook, but my daughter doesn't write all the text, so it isn't exactly a notebook either. Oh well, it works for us!
Great article! http://www.deldobuss.wordpress.com
Posted November 20, 2008
JaguarJulie wrote...
Hmmm, don't they refer to some laptops as notebooks? That's what gets confusing for the consumer because a notebook can be a 'computer.' I don't mind a laptop, but I simply CAN'T type on one without a mouse and keyboard.
Posted October 15, 2008
by Jimmie
Hello! I am a homeschooling mom who loves to teach and learn.
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