4-H Program

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4-H





General Info.

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4-H & Home School

4-H & The Home School Family

The 4-H program believes in the power of non-formal education and the Experiential Learning Model. As a home school family, you have your own thoughts about delivery methods that are best for your children. As you make lesson plans for teaching your children, investigating the opportunities that exist within your county’s extension 4-H program can be helpful to you.

At its essence, non-formal education is youth-driven; it requires turning the learning over to the youth and allowing them to decide what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. In non-formal settings, self-directed learners take control of the topic of study, the means of learning and the outcome. Non-formal education benefits youth because it involves personal choice, which helps youth to develop decision-making skills, and clarify their ideas and values.

A second key component of 4-H education is our emphasis on the Experiential Learning Model. This “learning by doing” or hands-on learning, is not only a hallmark of 4-H buy also engages the learner in an interactive way. Learning by doing requires youth involvement or interaction with the objects they are studying. In 4-H Youth Development, we know that youth learn best when they are actively involved in relevant, real-world situations. As a result, our educational materials and programs are developed to reflect the Experiential Education Model with its emphasis on doing, reflecting on the experience, and then applying what was learned in other settings.

The youth-driven model also implies that youth and adults learn together. Clearly one of the strengths of 4-H Youth Development programs is the development of personal relationships, which benefit youth through:
The development of interpersonal skills with peers outside the formal classroom;
Access to multiple caring adults, through whom youth receive guidance, direction, and feedback that reinforces the parental efforts;
Access to multiple adult role models in addition to parents so that youth benefit emotionally, scholastically, and interpersonally;

Source: Walker, Joyce. 1998. “Youth Development Education: Supports and Opportunities for Young People.” The Center. University of Minnesota Center for 4-H Youth Development. Winter: 10-13.

What has nearly 30 years of research told us about the transitions of young people into adulthood? That answer is in the answer to the following question, which shapes the purposes and the practices of all 4-H Youth Development programs:

“What does it take to assist young people to become healthy, problem-solving, constructive adults?”

Find a valued place in a constructive group.
Learn how to form close, durable human relationships.
Earn a sense of worth as a person.
Achieve a reliable basis for making informed choices.
Express constructive curiosity and exploratory behavior.
Find ways of being useful to others.
Believe in a promising future with real opportunities.
Cultivate the inquiring and problem-solving habits of the mind necessary for life-long learning and adaptability.
Learn to respect democratic values and responsible citizenship.
Build a healthy lifestyle.

Source: The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1995: Great Transitions: Preparing Adolescents for a New Century. Concluding report of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.

How can my home schooled family be part of 4-H?

Join a 4-H club! Contact the 4-H office or check out the Fulton-Montgomery Counties 4-H Club List on this website to locate a 4-H club near you. Contact the organizational leader of the club and ask the questions that are important to your family. You can better make a match for your child by talking with the leader and expressing your child’s needs.
Start a new neighborhood 4-H club! If there is no existing 4-H club that meets your needs, you can start your own group with five youth and two caring adults. Oftentimes the 4-H office will have interested families seeking a club if you don’t have five youth to get started. Check out the volunteer section on this website to find out more about becoming a 4-H club leader and 4-H club start up.
Enroll as an Independent 4-H member! If a 4-H club activity schedule does not fit your family’s schedule or if a youth group does not fit your child’s needs, youth may enroll in 4-H as an Independent 4-H member. As an independent member, your child has all of the rights and responsibilities of 4-H club membership. Youth enroll in projects that match their interests and they learn with the help of an adult mentor – a parent/guardian or other adult relative, a neighbor or other interested adult. Independent members plan and implement community service projects and practice good citizenship in their communities. Independent members do not participate in parliamentary procedure like 4-H club members do during their business meetings. Independent members do not experience the recreational activities with peers as 4-H club members do.
Use 4-H project materials as resources for teaching curriculum in a home school setting! Many 4-H project teaching materials in Fulton and Montgomery Counties supplement classroom lessons with hands-on, experiential learning activities to make subject matter come alive before the child. Check out the project code list on this website and call a 4-H educator to talk about how 4-H project materials can help you meet the learning standards for your child.
Arrange a home school group lesson! Get together with other home school families to teach a lesson. In a manner similar to a classroom field trip, we may be able to arrange participation in a 4-H educator-led lesson or series of lessons for 20 or more students on a specific subject matter. Call the 4-H office and ask about our school programs.
Participate in a teacher training! Sometimes 4-H educators offer teacher trainings in specialized subject matter. As a home school teacher you are eligible to attend some trainings. Watch local media notices and call the 4-H office to ask about scheduled teacher trainings.
Sponsor a 4-H Day for Home School Families! Work with the 4-H staff in Fulton & Montgomery Counties to plan and hold an informational event where home school families can see and learn first-hand about 4-H projects and activities. Call the 4-H office for more details.

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Equal Opportunity Statement

Equal Program Opportunity

Because the 4-H Youth Development Program is a component of the national Cooperative Extension System, which is supported by Federal, State and County funds it is governed by the equal opportunity laws of those three governmental entities. The Cornell Cooperative Extension equal opportunity statement is based on those regulations. 4-H clubs must abide by the standard it sets.

Cornell Cooperative Extension actively affirms equality of program and
employment opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin,
religion, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or marital status.

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You can reach us at:
The Johnstown Hotel, 55 East Main Street, Suite 210, Johnstown, NY 12095
Telephone: 518-762-3909, Toll Free: 866-762-3909, Fax: 518-762-8155
E-mail: fultonmontgomery@cornell.edu
or: mastergardenerccefm@cornell.edu

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Fulton & Montgomery Counties provides equal program and employment opportunities.
The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by Cooperative Extension is implied.

© 2005 Cornell Cooperative Extension of Fulton & Montgomery Counties. All rights reserved.
This website was created by Empire Web Pages on April 12, 2000.
This page was most recently updated on August 03, 2006.