Tell me about your family's experience w/ 4H

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I saw the how much does 4H cost thread. I looked at 4H and am interested in it. My DH and I have no experience with it. I'd love to hear about your family's experience w/it.

[workingmom]

The books are great in the diversity of projects to choose from. You could even use them as unit studies for your homeschool. DS 9 did magic of electricity and focus on photography. While the projects were good, I felt the weekly 4H meetings were pointless. Its seemed like a waste of an evening. Nothing really substantial. Even the fair was a bit disorganized in the judging. His electritcity judge showed up 40 minutes late and instead of starting at the top of the list where ds was #1 he started at the time slot he showed up. It took the organizers another 30 minutes to figure it out and speak to him.

 

Ds isn't interested in doing it again next year. Although I may just buy the books for electives if he have room in our schedule next year. I did like the exercise of him making a poster and practicing public speaking both in the club (once did a demo) and at the fair.

[happyWImom]

We have been in 4H for 2 years, and love it. My dc have made good friends, learned a lot, and are very excited to work on projects every year. I like the fact that the kids are supposed to run the meetings, and run it using Roberts Rules. It's so cute to hear your 7 year old say "I second that motion."

 

But I do think that the club leader really makes a difference in your experience. Ours always tried to make the meetings educational. So, we would have our short "business meeting", to discuss misc. club business, but then we would have a presentation of some sort, or a field trip, or the kids would bring in something to discuss, and we even had a mini science fair. I know other clubs that meet informally to work on their projects together, too. But I do know people who have had negative experiences because their leader wasn't very present, and the meetings were nothing special.

 

I would advise you to try and talk to people who belong to your local club and find out as much as you can. Also, you can belong to any club in your county, so if one that's closest to you isn't the best, you have the option to belong to another one.

 

If you join, I hope you have as good of an experience as we have had!

[rwjx2khsmj]

We moved to a new area in January and joined a 4H group in March. I still have no clue what it's all about. Like so much with the rural lifestyle, activites are built on generations of experience. I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have those generations or that common knowledge.

 

I understand that there are projects but I don't know how they work. Something about fair competition but there were activities in the booklet that we couldn't complete independently. I'm not sure where those come in.

 

We did participate in 4H camp and all the kids loved their time at camp.

[Sparkle]

We love 4-H. This will be our 5th year. Our club is probably a bit different than most. We are all homeschoolers and we meet once a month for a Super Project Day. We try to have all the parents involved as leaders or co-leaders or parent helpers. We usually have a wide variety of projects available, about 25 to 30 or more, and each kid can choose up to 5 to work on for the year (some years it's been 6 or 7). On the Super Project Days, the project members meet with the leader and work on their project for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The SPDs go from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm.

 

We also hold business meetings about 4x/year. The kids get a chance to be an officer, which is great for leadership development and public speaking experience. We also hold several potlucks and parties throughout the year.

 

Some of the projects we've done: Archery, Soccer, Football, Hooping, Dance, Global Fusion Cooking, Outdoor Cooking, Beverages, Gardening, Beading, Quilting, Canning and Preserving, Fine Art, Sign Language, Hands On Science, Dissections, Photography, Drama, Computer Tech, Rabbits, Birds, Guinea Pigs, K'Nex, Legos, Embroidery, Crochet, Tool Box, American History, Medieval Studies, Chain Mail, Virtual Enterprise, Small Pet & Animal Care, PVC Pipe Crafts, Welding, Scrapbooking, Card Making, and Fashion Design.

 

Our family has not personally been involved in exhibiting at the fair because we live in a different county from the club we're involved in but many members of our club do enter things, and have done very well. There are also lots of other county and statewide opportunities to be involved, as well as summer camps.

 

I agree that a lot depends on the leader(s) of the club. I think we're very fortunate that we have good leaders and that all the parents are involved. It can be kind of time intensive, but on the plus side, the kids have learned a LOT, made plenty of friends, and developed useful skills such as public speaking.

[Mallorie]

This was our first year, and we enjoyed it enough that we'll sign up for another year. I just want to let you know, every group is different, and the PP was correct, leaders make a HUGE difference.

 

The group we joined are all "pro" 4H'ers, so we felt very overwhelmed. We hung in there, though, and now that I understand how it works, this next year should be smoother. So if it seems like a lot to take on, that's normal. Just hang in there, buddy up to the families who let ya and learn from them, and enjoy the program.

 

My dh was a 4H'er growing up, and it really gave him some great life skills and leadership ability. I wish I had the opportunity as a kid.

[Ellie]

We did 4-H for just a few years, in San Diego and in San Jose.

 

The group in San Diego was very much run by the members, with just the right amount of adult oversight. There were quite a few projects for the children to do, and most of those projects weren't centered on getting ready for the county fair. There was one monthly meeting, which I think is common for 4-H clubs, and then meetings for the individual projects that the dc wanted to do. The cost was minimal.

 

The group in San Jose was pretty good, as well, but all projects were focussed on the fair, and when the fair went away, so did 4-H. :-(

 

We would have liked to do 4-H longer, but there wasn't a group, and I didn't want to pursue the possibility of doing it independently.

[Tenaj]

I grew up being involved in 4-H and looked forward to participating with my children. We did participate one year in a primarily "animal" club (we did sheep) but we weren't really equipped to handle the animals and dropped it because we felt we were depending too much on the leadership for equipment and knowledge. That club was great. Very organized, much support, lots of leaders who loved the kids, etc. . . BUT there were a lot of politics in who won prizes at the fair. The same names tend to come up again and again. In fact, we still laugh because the younger brothers and sisters of the kids who won that year are now winning. They spend up to $30,000 on their lambs and have an a/c barn and automatic treadmills. Who can compete with that?

 

The next year we joined a club without the animal projects and took several more "general" projects. Between the two kids we did an aquarium project, a sewing project and two food projects. At judging my son was reprimanded because he didn't do a seperate written report in addition to the project book: Ummm . . he didn't do it because it wasn't required! When I pointed this out to the club leadership I got shrugged shoulders which didn't impress me. My daughter was doing a first year skirt project (she was 9) and was reprimanded because she followed the directions in the book instead of putting in a fancier waist and hem! EEEK! I was furious with the judging process and my kids were so discouraged that we didn't participate the next year.

 

The leaders are SO important but so is the county organization and the fair board!

[J-rap]

If you weren't in 4H yourself growing up, it takes awhile to figure out how it works! There's no set way of doing it, and you kind of make it what you want to make it. Also, as others have mentioned, so much depends on the particular club you are in and the particular adult leader.

 

Some people are true life-long 4H-ers, and 4H is a huge part of their lives. For others, it is mostly about entering projects for the fair. (We were the latter.)

 

I did not have a 4H background, so it took me a year to figure out the system, the projects, etc. Once we did, my kids had a blast. As I said -- we were not as active as others, but we attended the monthly meetings (ours were only once/month), and became more active at fair time. We would often blend homeschool projects with 4H projects. Several times our children won ribbons that enabled them to compete at the State Fair and stay in the big 1800's State Fair dormitory, which was an experience in itself.

 

We're no longer in it, but my kids have fond memories of 4H. Oh, one other thing -- it's something that all of your kids -- no matter what age or sex -- can do together.

[Elizabeth in MN]

We moved to a new area in January and joined a 4H group in March. I still have no clue what it's all about. Like so much with the rural lifestyle, activites are built on generations of experience. I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have those generations or that common knowledge.

 

I understand that there are projects but I don't know how they work. Something about fair competition but there were activities in the booklet that we couldn't complete independently. I'm not sure where those come in.

 

This, exactly. My daughter loves how the meetings are run but there are no activities. People talk about projects but I can't find out how to get involved. I have no idea who the adult is that is in charge. The first time I've heard about books is in this thread.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

4H varies wildly depending on your location- state, county, etc.

 

Our club is a county club which includes any kids who do not have an active 4H program at their school, whether homeschooled or not.

 

We are in a suburban county and our 4H has monthly meetings plus the kids can run for office, participate in lots of field trips throughout the year, and compete in local and district presentation events. They also have the opportunity to participate in statewide events/meetings and summer camps.

 

My kids have taken a while to really feel at home with 4H but both really love it now. My son is in high school, and my daughter is entering 7th grade.

 

A mom I know who lives about an hour north of us tells me of her local 4H group, which is only homeschoolers. Apparently that group is not very organized and they don't do a whole lot with the kids.

 

In some of the more rural counties, agricultural activities are emphasized a lot more- horticulture and animal showing/judging. We do have a horse and pony club here but it is completely separate from the county activities- one can opt to be involved in that but it's not required.

 

hth.

[dirty ethel rackham]

This is our 2nd year and we love it. We have a lovely homeschooled club that is very well run. We have some fabulous, dedicated leaders. Our club meets once a month. The meetings are run by the club members (kids) and they are pretty strict with the Roberts Rules of Order. Everyone works on their projects at home, but we have club goals that we work on as well. Some of these include philanthropic aims such as shoe drives, book drives, bingo at a convalescent home, creating displays at local municipalities promoting 4H, the County Fair and other Extension projects and fundraisers. At each meeting, each member goes over what they accomplished in the past month and what they plan to accomplish in the next month. They constantly stress SMART goals (but my kids are an example of how they aren't working as we are furiously finishing stuff right now. ) We also have social time at the end - we may play games or a club member may do a demonstration, either as practice for the Public Presentation category or just for fun.

 

Our club dues which are under $20 per person going to the extension office covers 4 project books. We also have dues for our individual club (about $7 per year) which covers use of the building and some of our group goals.

 

What I love about our club is that the leaders advise, but the club is student run. Lots of opportunities for leadership in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.

 

There are some 4H clubs that are SPIN clubs - special interest like robotics or horsemanship or something like that. Our club is not like that.

 

Our county fair is fairly well organized. While we occasionally get a lousy judge, the superintendents and jr. superintendents (4Hers) try to keep things running smoothly.

[NanceXToo]

My girls did a 4H cooking club for a while. They really loved it. It was held every other week, for like an hour and a half. They were given a 4H Cooking Workbook, and at each meeting, they would have a short discussion and then they would go cook something together.

 

There was a fundraiser we had to do during our time there (fun shaped pasta) and they worked the concession stand at a horse show, and they could have an exhibit in the county fair.

 

The cooking club ended up not continuing the next year though. I was going to put the in a 4H Wilderness club but then decided to hold off as we already had too many other extra-curricular things going on. But they did enjoy it while they were there.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

Thanks for all the great feedback!!!!!! I really appreciate it. We're expecting to move, so I'll keep my eyes open for info once we do.