Can you tell me about 4-H?

[alisoncooks]

There may be a homeschool 4-H group forming in our area. Can anyone give me an idea of how much time/mental energy this would require of ME as a parent of two participants?

 

I really don't want to take on any volunteering/leading right now. I don't want something that requires $$ or lots of projects-- we struggle enough just to get school work finished.

 

Is this even an option for us? I'm not entirely sure how 4-H is structured, and I don't want to get DD's hopes up if I know it won't work.

[Rachel]

This is our first year as official 4Hers although we have participated with Cloverbuds for the past several years.

 

Organization and volunteer requirements vary a ton from county to county as well as club to club. Each county will have several clubs such as archery, livestock, sewing, cooking, etc. Every club will operate a little differently and have different requirements as far as volunteering and time commitment. My son participated in Lego robotics and shooting sports this past year which are probably quite different from the homeschool club you are considering.

 

Robotics was $25 for the year and included two shirts. There were no additional fees but we did have to drive to 2 competitions (optional). Our team didn't have all the latest and greatest equipment that some of the sponsored teams had, but they did just fine at the district and state competitions. The agent was the coach and there was no volunteer requirement as a community member with a love for robotics assisted. Meetings were twice a month with more the week before competition.

 

Shooting sports was coached by parent volunteers. A parent did have to stay on site at all times although if approved ahead of time another parent could have been responsible for my child. There was no responsibility for the onsite parent other than making sure their kid safely handled their equipment. It was also $25 for the season and the district shoot. However the state shoot was $12 per discipline (so depending on what you kid did that could have gotten pricey). Most counties had sponsors. They required one volunteer from each county per 4 participants to work a shift at the state competition. My county only had my son participating so I got to volunteer, although it was an easy shift of 2 hours and helped me to learn a lot about how scoring worked.

 

I am guessing the homeschool club will either do projects or field trips as a group. You will need to talk to the 4H agent and the volunteer running the group to get a feel for costs and time commitment. Our county is really open to letting people try things out so it would be ok to attend a couple times. You could be upfront with your daughter about this being a new club and letting her know that she can try it, but if it won't work for your family you will stop after a couple meetings.

[Ellie]

There may be a homeschool 4-H group forming in our area. Can anyone give me an idea of how much time/mental energy this would require of ME as a parent of two participants?

 

I really don't want to take on any volunteering/leading right now. I don't want something that requires $$ or lots of projects-- we struggle enough just to get school work finished.

 

Is this even an option for us? I'm not entirely sure how 4-H is structured, and I don't want to get DD's hopes up if I know it won't work.

 

We enjoyed 4-H, although as Rach said, it can vary from county to county. And frankly, I have more reservations about it since it's a homeschool club.

 

When my dc were in 4-H, they were young and so of course neither could drive. That meant I had to get them to all meetings. That was my primary responsibility. There was one general meeting in the evening each month, plus meetings for whatever projects they were doing. Dc had to attend a certain percentage of the general meetings and the project meetings. I didn't feel that it was burdensome. And not expensive, either, although expense will depend on the projects the children choose.

[Prairie~Phlox]

I'll be honest, I was a 10 year 4-H member and LOVED it, but I had animals and made bigger connections because of it.  As a parent, I thought, "oh my kids need to join 4-H."  We all hate it.  My dd finished, ds will be a 10 year member this coming year and younger ds is a 9 year member.  Dh is the only reason we stay in, he says "oh it will look good on things, 10 year member....blah, blah, blan.  We are total underachievers and do minimal work, I don't even care this next year if they attend the required 3 meetings to get champion.  I'm just over it.

[teachermom2834]

We love 4H but I can hardly tell you anything about it. It is like some secret organization. It is impossible to define or explain.

 

I'm just kidding- kind of. I was not a 4H kid but my oldest got brought into it as a high schooler. He didn't have a lot of time to devote to it because he was also an athlete but the things he participated in he loved. He did more of the retreats, leadership conferences, etc than really pursuing a project in depth. He is in college now and still says the people skills, interview skills, etc that he learned there are some of the most beneficial things he took from any of his high school experiences.

 

My current 9th grader is all about 4H and it is his main activity. He goes to every 4H event or activity he can. He has gone to academic and outdoors activity camps and leadership retreats. He has competed in academic quiz bowls and service projects. He has run for and held office. He has given speeches and demonstrations.

 

Our 4H club in our previous town was parent led. Our current club is run by the county extension agent (paid full time employee). So there are differences across clubs and counties. Our current club costs nothing and posterboards and markers are even provided for poster contests, etc. That varies by county and how much money they have to work with.

 

We are city folk. We don't even have a dog or a garden, so we do not participate in any agricultural activities.

 

I wish I could explain more but it is the kind of thing you have to participate in for a while to get a handle on. It can be frustrating. All I can say is that it is worth a try. It has been a fantastic activity for the two of mine that did it. The one who wanted nothing to do with it kind of regrets now that he missed out on the things his brothers talk about enjoying.

[LuvToRead]

We love 4-H.  I am a parent volunteer so I am required to stay for the meetings, but I can drop off for any other event.  In my county, 4-H can be as involved as a once a month meeting, but there are lots other events that are voluntary.  We had 3 seperate 4-H things this week, but only made 2 of  them.  You don't even have to do any projects if you don't want.  We don't do livestock, and the projects can literally be as inexpensive as making a poster.   Through the years we've done a bug collection, woodworking, photography, baked cookies, a tractor safety poster, a poster about bees, tested soil, cross stitch, embroidery, drawing, and the list goes on and on.   

 

 

[LuvToRead]

I wish I could explain more but it is the kind of thing you have to participate in for a while to get a handle on. It can be frustrating. All I can say is that it is worth a try. It has been a fantastic activity for the two of mine that did it. The one who wanted nothing to do with it kind of regrets now that he missed out on the things his brothers talk about enjoying.

 

I do agree with this.  I wasn't in 4-H growing up, so it did take me a couple of years before I had things figured out.  My best advice is to make friends with the person in charge of 4-H in your country.  You should be able to find that information online.  

[J-rap]

We love 4H but I can hardly tell you anything about it. It is like some secret organization. It is impossible to define or explain.

 

I'm just kidding- kind of. I was not a 4H kid but my oldest got brought into it as a high schooler. He didn't have a lot of time to devote to it because he was also an athlete but the things he participated in he loved. He did more of the retreats, leadership conferences, etc than really pursuing a project in depth. He is in college now and still says the people skills, interview skills, etc that he learned there are some of the most beneficial things he took from any of his high school experiences.

 

My current 9th grader is all about 4H and it is his main activity. He goes to every 4H event or activity he can. He has gone to academic and outdoors activity camps and leadership retreats. He has competed in academic quiz bowls and service projects. He has run for and held office. He has given speeches and demonstrations.

 

Our 4H club in our previous town was parent led. Our current club is run by the county extension agent (paid full time employee). So there are differences across clubs and counties. Our current club costs nothing and posterboards and markers are even provided for poster contests, etc. That varies by county and how much money they have to work with.

 

We are city folk. We don't even have a dog or a garden, so we do not participate in any agricultural activities.

 

I wish I could explain more but it is the kind of thing you have to participate in for a while to get a handle on. It can be frustrating. All I can say is that it is worth a try. It has been a fantastic activity for the two of mine that did it. The one who wanted nothing to do with it kind of regrets now that he missed out on the things his brothers talk about enjoying.

 

Yes, this was kind of our experience too!  (Esp. the secret organization comment -- ha!)  But, my kids loved it.  We were one of the very few families coming in from the "outside" (without any family connection or history with 4H).  A simple set of guidelines and explanations does not seem to exist anywhere!  The only possible way to really understand it is simply to jump in and go with it.  Plus, every club is run a little differently.

 

In our community...

 

It's a family club, not kids only.

 

Meetings and the club itself are student-led, with two parents who oversee the running of the club.

 

Meetings are once/month, and a parent is expected to be at each one.  All ages are together, which I really liked.  (No separate meetings for separate ages.)

 

There generally were one or two club events Sept.-May, apart from the meetings.  These might be a county-wide event, or whatever.  (A couple years, our club participated in writing and and performing a 5-minute skit in a themed event, where it competed against all the other clubs in our tri-county area.)

 

Apart from that, Sept.-May, students are working on various projects on their own.  This can be as time-consuming or least time-consuming as you want.  You can do only one project if you want.  Many in our group did up to 30!  We generally did 3-5 for the year.  

 

Projects can be almost anything, but must fall into one of the many 4H categories.  There are typical stuff like raising livestock or produce, but it really expands into almost anything at all.  That is, you can find almost anything your child is interested in and find a category that it will fall into.  We're city-folk, so stuck with things like art-projects, baking, making posters about animals, photography, sewing, and growing houseplants.  

 

We didn't get too carried away with the projects.  We generally combined our homeschool projects with 4H projects.  

 

Some clubs require vey detailed reports about your projects.  Ours didn't.  

 

Sometimes, the club will sponsor a class or series of classes or workshops for a particular kind of project.  (Maybe a parent happens to have an expertise in it and agrees to do this, or make the club brings in an outside expert.)  These were free and optional.

 

The most exciting time is leading up to the County Fair and the County Fair itself, because that's when you get to show your projects and are judged.  Kids get ribbons which are worth a few dollars.  Parents volunteer at the 4H food booth at the fair.

 

If they get a top award at the County Fair, they have the option to continue with their project to the State Fair.  (But they can decline.)

 

Our cost was very small.  We paid a very small membership fee, which was a bargain for all five of my kids being in it.  No other expense was required for us.  We put in a little money toward then projects, but not much at all.  And again, this could be as much or as little as you wanted.  

 

My kids were in it for about 4 years, and then became so involved in sports and other activities that they had to  pull out.  However, they have fond memories of those years with 4H and the County Fair!

[teachermom2834]

I do agree with this. I wasn't in 4-H growing up, so it did take me a couple of years before I had things figured out. My best advice is to make friends with the person in charge of 4-H in your country. You should be able to find that information online.

This is good advice! There seems to be no good way of distributing all possible information about what is available in your county, state. Just attending monthly meetings is fine but you will likely feel a little lost (or a lot). But making friends with someone "in the know" makes a big difference. My 9th grader is now close with the agent in charge of our whole county so he doesn't miss out on anything. In our previous (much larger) county just being close to mom whose kids were very active helped a lot. Someone you can text and say " what is this? What does this mean? Is this a good activity for us?" Is helpful.

 

I think part of the difficulty with communication is that 4H is a family thing. The first big conference and awards competition my oldest went to he noticed he was the only one he met whose parents were not in 4H. Most of those parents were still heavily involved and some had made careers working 4H and married other 4Hers. So much of the knowledge is handed down through generations. That said, everyone we have met has welcomed us. We just need a lot of things explained ;). We are "first generation 4Hers".

[Rachel]

The agree with the above statements about it feeling like a secret club. If you didn't grow up with 4h it does feel like a secret club and difficult to figure out. Information is not usually online.

 

Still give it a try though.

[Wheres Toto]

Our county and state are actually really good about having the information available on line, but I have seem how unusual that is.

 

I'm currently running my 2nd 4-H club.  We couldn't find what we wanted at the time we wanted, so I just started my own.

 

I used to run a homeschool Cloverbud club.  Under our state guidelines, I couldn't call it a homeschool club because it had to be open to everyone but we met in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, so it was homeschoolers or kids who hadn't gone to school yet.  We did two meetings - an activity at the library and a field trip - each month.  We explored all different topics (animals, fish, fire safety, asian cultures, quilting, photography) and nobody did any kind of projects or record books.  Everyone was new to 4-H including me, I didn't do 4-H as a kid and didn't know anyone who did.  I chose 4-H because both my kids could do it together.

 

I currently run a 4-H STEM club.   Pretty much everyone in the club was new to 4-H when the joined our club and more than 1/2 the club is homeschoolers, even though we meet in the evenings.   We are starting our 3rd year and last year was the first anyone did record books, and that was just my kids.  I am finding information about how to do record books when you don't have a year-long project, like an animal, hard to find.  Our record books are pretty lame, but we turned in something.  I do have some ideas for projects that should work well for this year.

 

We don't do a single project as a whole club.  Each meeting (twice a month), we basically explore a different STEM topic and do a hands-on activity.  The idea is that the kids could then expand on those ideas/activities to come up with a project they do on their own (with assistance if needed).   I will often offer ideas for projects to do if they enjoyed the activity.   I have one or two members that are interested in doing record books.

 

Our Fair projects are separate from our record book projects.  My kids each did a science poster for Fair (as did I, as an adult entry), then dd did another pet poster, and a craft project.

 

We are really enjoying it, and the kids in my club seem to be as well.  But, I'm not overly strict about doing record books or being "in good standing".  I will assist anyone who wants to take it to that level, but if they want to use it as just a science club, I'm okay with that too.  

[Amy in NH]

I was not in 4-H or any other youth development organization as a child.  My mother was "too busy", and I missed out. 

 

I am the leader of two 4-H clubs - a community project club, and a county 4-H teen club.

 

Our county has project events, but the project work is done in club meetings or individually.  We've done a lot of cool projects over the past 15 years.  The kids have access to amazing opportunities which increase with age, culminating in substantial scholarships if they stick with it.  The communication skills they learn in 4-H have put my college kids at a competitive advantage over their peers.  If done right, it teaches youth how to set goals and achieve them, which is the most basic necessity for a successful life.

 

That said - there is some level of bureaucracy and frustration in any large organization, which is only as good as its people.  I don't think you can expect to get something amazing out of any opportunity if you are not willing to put anything in.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Amy in NH

[alisoncooks]

Hmm.  Thanks for the info.  I did 4-H in a rural area when I was a tween -- but we did one lamb/livestock show and that was the extent of our participation.  I also seem to remember a Christmas craft sell.

 

There is also a shooting/archery 4-H group in our area.  TBH, I think DD would enjoy that but (from what I understand) she might be the only female if she joined. (She has shooting range experience with DH.)

 

I guess I'll just hit up the informational meeting and see how things feel...

[Um_2_4]

We belong to a "homeschool" 4H club. We meet one day a week during usual school hours, so only homeschoolers join. Projects are as $ or $$ as you want them to be. This year we are doing: photography, archery, painting, sewing, home ec, STEM challenges, Small animal (chinchilla we already own), Public Speaking, Leadership, and Sewing. Plus my 2 youngest are in primaries (cloverbud) and they meet one of those days a month. 

I am a volunteer and run 2 of those projects. 

My kids love it and DS was elected to an office this year. The group of kids are overall great. 

[historically accurate]

Some of my kids did a 4H robotics team for the past couple of years. I never figured out how 4H worked overall. My kids didn't do projects because I had no idea how it worked. The leader of the robotics club didn't seem to like me all that much, so I tried not to bother her with questions. I was kind of glad when they were old enough for the next level of robotics, which is run through a local homeschool co-op.

 

They did enjoy the robotics team, and we still get the newsletters, so I can find some interesting classes sometimes that are open to all. In fact, my oldest (never a 4H member) went to summer camp at the state flagship univ. with 4H this year. 

[Laurel-in-CA]

4-H can be all the way from very inexpensive, to insane! The insane tends to follow the livestock projects. You get a sheep, you get 47 more sheep, you add another breed and then you have 100 sheep! And then you have 3 new barns, 11 LGD dogs (some puppies), a Border Collie, 2 spinning wheels, 10 looms, a llama or two, another trailer, etc. etc. and so forth. And of course you continue with poultry and horses and cattle and... And then your kid wants a semen tank for Christmas to start her new Charolais herd and is looking at ag graduate schools! Run, run as fast as you can!!!

 

Honestly, 4-H is one of the best kids' programs out there. It fits SO well into hsing, allowing the kid to follow their interests. 4-H isn't just cakes and cattle any more. Most counties are set up to have a club meeting once a month, with project meetings on top of that. If your kid is doing baking and shooting and dogs and clothing, you'll run yourself ragged. Pick TWO things to start with! Visit several clubs to see what the fit is. Your kid will learn to persevere, to speak in public, to work cooperatively, to be a gracious winner and a gracious loser. Your kid will learn to comply with outside deadlines, to pay attention to directions and rules, and to have pride in a job well done. Just be aware that it may mean your kid ends up majoring in ag, hoping to become a county extension agent, and giving back to the program that gave so much to her. 

 

Or spending 14 years in the horse project and taking several unexpected trips to ER but insisting on going back to that horse every time before the bones even heal, becoming project leader, then leading the 4H club she grew up in. Seriously!!

 

Do public speaking. Do record books. Do count up the community service. Record books and breed association memberships turn into scholarships and job resumes. Just FYI.

 

But also, do start small and slow. It's so tempting to sign up for all the things that interest, but 4H will eat your life if you let it.

[GoVanGogh]

This is our second year in 4-H. I so appreciate all the comments about it being a secret club because I still can't figure some things out! They try to be so open, but it is like they are talking a different language. Roundup? That sounds like a recruiting event but it is a convention for exsisting members! Why couldn't someone come out and explain it like that?

I was in 4-H as a kid, but totally missed that it was suppose to be child-led. My mother forced us to participate, told us what we were doing and when and how. I hated it!

Now as a 4-H parent, I do love it. DS does robotics and it has been such an amazing experience. The club itself hasn't been expensive, but we have opted to travel to three competitions so there have been added expenses that were well worth the cost and time.

[teachermom2834]

This is our second year in 4-H. I so appreciate all the comments about it being a secret club because I still can't figure some things out! They try to be so open, but it is like they are talking a different language. Roundup? That sounds like a recruiting event but it is a convention for exsisting members! Why couldn't someone come out and explain it like that?

I was in 4-H as a kid, but totally missed that it was suppose to be child-led. My mother forced us to participate, told us what we were doing and when and how. I hated it!

Now as a 4-H parent, I do love it. DS does robotics and it has been such an amazing experience. The club itself hasn't been expensive, but we have opted to travel to three competitions so there have been added expenses that were well worth the cost and time.

I'm laughing about Roundup because I remember driving my first ds to Roundup and discussing with him that neither of us had any idea what it was and I promised him I would come get him if it was horrible. He loved it and went back twice :)

 

Things are called by funny names. My ds has done Judging the last two years. Seems like a funny name. Seems more like quizzing or testing or something. But my ds who has done it assures me "judging" is the perfect name for it. But yeah, when they ask for sign ups for "Life Skills Judging at the county fair" - that is not self explanatory! Lol

[dirty ethel rackham]

Part of the reason why 4-H may seem like a secret club is that every club can be run differently.  Our county has SPIN clubs (devoted to one project area like robotics), clubs that are devoted one one area, but are not SPIN clubs (equestrian), multi-interest clubs where projects are done together, multi-interest clubs where the kids are so different that they do their projects on their own (with mentoring from other club members on an informal basis) but meet to run the business of the club and do service projects.  Our county offers other opportunties like dog training and a dog show, shooting sports, etc.  We are a suburban county with only a few small pockets of agricultural land left.  Most of the people who do ag-related projects live in unincorporated areas that have acreage rather than suburban lots.  

 

Our club is the multi-interest but too diverse to do projects together.  We meet monthly for the "business" meeting and, perhaps, a service project.  We also participate in a couple of county activities a year.  It used to be a "homeschool" club when we met during "school hours", but many of the leaders went back to work or some core families put their kids back in school.  So, now, it is mostly families who have homeschooled at one point or another and a few families with kids who go to school.  It took us a while to wrap our heads around what to do so, as a leader, I try to tell prospective members what to expect.  Dd17 has been in it since she was 8.  She has done cooking, sewing, visual arts, photography, leadership, citizenship, public speaking, college and careers, service learning and has participated in our club's group Intercultural project.  She has been a state delegate at least 6 times ... so much so that she passed up going to state this year despite being selected in too categories.