Happy New Year 4-H Families! I hope everyone had a happy holiday! I have record books on my mind today because on Thursday I will be helping judge area record books for the Northeast Kansas counties. So I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone about record books and why they are important.
Record books are not the most “fun” part of 4-H. But they teach the valuable life lessons of record keeping and analyzing the work that has been done. As adults we have to keep records for multiple things. I have to balance my checking account, keep a household inventory for my insurance and know where the immunization records are for my family. So having youth practice keeping records with a 4-H projects makes these later adult responsibilities less daunting.
There are two types of 4-H record book for Shawnee County. The first type is the Non-Competitive record book. This is a simplified record book that gets youth used to writing things down, making goals and keeping track of meetings they attended. They can fill these forms out with a pencil or do them on the computer.
A 4-H story (summary of their 4-H year) is encouraged but not required. If you can have your youth write a one page 4-H story for their non-competitive book I would call that a win!
The Competitive Record Book is also call the Kansas Award Portfolio or KAP for short. There are the record book forms that are utilized across Kansas and are more detailed and have more requirements. You have to do a 4-H story and many different pictures! So don’t forget to take pictures all year long!
There are three age divisions for Competitive Record Book Forms. The process gets a little harder the older youth get. It is helpful for both types of books to take a look at the forms now and decide with your youth what they would like to submit come September. Record books are for he current year of 4-H. So they are recording what they did in that year from October to September.
If your youth is wondering, “Why would I want to do the competitive forms?” The Competitive record books are how the state wide project winners are selected. When a youth is in the senior division (14-18) their record book competes with other books in that project on the county level, regional level and state level. If you win the state project award you prize is a trip to 4-H National Congress in Atlanta, GA. At Congress youth meet 4-H’ers from all across the country, have learning sessions and take tours around the city. It is a very big accomplishment!
You can find the record book forms and other tips and tricks on our Shawnee County 4-H website.
If you have any questions please call, e-mail or leave a comment here and I will answer for everyone! Thanks!
