For years, many have enjoyed our online series based on the book Our Wonderful World by Emery Lewis Howe. Now we are answering the many requests to offer this series in print!
We have used this series as a basis for 32 free nature lessons since 2012.1 Now we have created a series of books by dividing the original book into four parts. This should make it easier to include this nature series in a homeschool curriculum.
Our Wonderful World books study God’s creation through story and exploration.
Backyard Neighbors: The World of Insects (Fall)
Worms, ants, spiders, honey bees, and butterflies and moths.
Feathered Friends: The World of Birds (Winter)
(Coming September 2026)
Birds, their adaptations (beaks, nests, feet, etc.), bird guardians, and how to attract, feed, and care for birds.
Garden Life: The World of Plants (Spring)
Plants and how they grow, wildflowers, pollination, trees, forests, seeds, seed dispersion, and wheat.
Four-Footed Friends & The Earth and Its Neighbors (Summer)
Dogs, horses, beavers, and sheep, plus physical earth topics such as sky, clouds, planets, rocks, and water.
Each part, excepting Feathered Friends (Winter), is roughly 10 lessons. If you complete all four books, you will have 32 lessons. But be aware, we have added optional Extended Readings. They are optional. But they do give you a chance to slow down and simply work through each part during the course of one year. While it will take longer, this schedule will also provide more time for exploration and observation.
The series is aimed at elementary students, but can be extended for older students by adding an age-appropriate biology text.
The series uses the elements of a natural learning approach:
- Observation.
- Exploration.
- Research.
- Recording.
Activities include counting earthworms, feeding the birds, dissecting flowers, and much more. At the end of each chapter are notebooking, observation, memorizing, and copywork suggestions.
Along the way, children will encounter the wonders of nature close at hand while building observation and research skills—skills that will last them a lifetime. Most importantly, they will learn to appreciate God as Creator of His wonderful world.
The first three books are written and with the publisher. The final one is nearly finished. We will update this page with expected publishing dates as they get closer.
We are so excited to be able to offer this series at long last!
Series
Mentor your child in a way that goes beyond the curriculum and speaks to the heart.
Resources & Links ~ Updates
Free Nature Studies: Our Wonderful World
The original online series where you will find many additional links and resources.
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
Originally written in 1911 by the head of the Department of Nature Study at Cornell University, this much-loved handbook shows us how to observe nature in 887 pages of detail. This is a great reference when it comes to getting outside and observing. We refer to the corresponding pages in our book. While the paperback is still in print, the original is also available online as a free download.
Drawing & Writing Notebooking Paper {Free Download}
Goes perfectly with the book for narrations or creating the Our Wonderful World Notebook.
Find an error or link that needs updating? Please contact us!
- Our Wonderful World by Howe was published in 1927. According to the United States Copyright Office: “Works that secured copyright protection before January 1, 1978, were eligible for up to two terms of protection: an original term of twenty-eight years, followed by a renewal term.” The copyright expired in 1955 and the Library of Congress did not show any copyright renewal, so it entered the public domain at that point. ↩︎
