Why Audubon Are the Best Field Guides for Homeschoolers

Homeschoolers who want to enjoy serious nature study often ask, “Which are the best field guides?”

I have favorites, and I’ll be sure to tell you in just a minute, but first, you should know that you have many wonderful options. You won’t go wrong if you choose field guides that appeal to you for one reason or another.

Pictures and succinct, kid-friendly information are helpful for younger children. Older children who are already interested in nature topics will appreciate a field guide with several pictures of specimens and thorough explanations. Luckily, there are field guides for these needs and everything in between.

To find the best field guides for your family, borrow various types from the library and try them. Once you find the ones you love, consider investing in a shelf full to have them available whenever the opportunity or interest strikes for nature study.

Purchasing field guides is an investment. When considering putting money into a collection, it’s important that the books can be used by multiple ages for years. It’s also important that children can view vivid pictures for identification and have plenty of information available about the specimens.

The Best Field Guides

The National Audubon Society Field Guides are my overall favorites for those reasons and others.

They’re relatively inexpensive.

Especially when you purchase a single one here or there for back-to-school gifts or stocking stuffers.

They’re durable.

This would be very important to me even if I didn’t have three children who wanted to handle the books after romping in the creek or digging a critter out of the dirt. The vinyl cover can be wiped off easily and is less likely to get bent while traveling in nature bags. Plus, the pages are also tightly bound. I’ve never had one of the Audubon guides lose a page or break at the binding.

They’re nicely sized.

Small enough to fit into a nature bag but big enough to have clear pictures, both are incredibly helpful on almost every occasion.

They’re thorough.

It’s hard to be thorough in nature because God is so awesome and creative! But, even though the books can’t cover everything, I’ve found them to be quite helpful for identifying most things.

They’re organized.

When field guides are organized well, they are much easier to use. It doesn’t take us any time to figure out where to look in the book for a certain colored nature object or size. Pictures are categorized in the front half of the book with a very clear system that makes it so easy that children can locate things without much help. In the back of the book, you find detailed descriptions of each nature object, such as – size, color, texture, range, season, and much more.

They are available for many topics.

Once we get used to a certain type of field guide, it’s nice to know that the other books in the series will follow the same general “searching style.” Plus, my collection looks great lined up on the bookshelf together!

The “why” behind my general recommendation for the best field guides doesn’t mean I don’t love others. In fact, I have several others on the bookshelf for reference and reading because they are amazing, too. Which field guides are your favorites?

Do you need a nature study curriculum?

Find a good use for all the wonderful field guides you will collect! Whether you want to dig deep into a nature study topic or need grab-n-go ideas for quick nature walks, browse plenty of options in the Our Journey Westward Shop!

Here’s a sampling of the more than 30 curriculum options!

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