4H Projects

     I love going to the fair (county fair and state fair both) to see the 4H projects.  I was never in 4H, but it is something I always wanted to do.  Delainey is very lucky to be in an active 4H group.  Her club is a large group of kids from elementary school to high school.  They have monthly meetings that she loves going to each month.  I enjoy watching her interact with the other members during activity times.

     Last year, D did "mini-4H", which is just the way it sounds, mini.  Projects are smaller, there is no paperwork involved, and everyone gets a ribbon.  This is her first year in the big leagues.  She wanted to do four projects...until she realized how much paperwork was involved in the process.  At that point she was already signed up and we decided that she needed to honor that commitment.  So we began to work...and by we, I mean Delainey did the work while we nagged her to do it.  She did a scrapbook project, two photography projects, and a collection of sea shells.

     D started her scrapbook project first.  She got online to find the best ways to make scrapbook pages, looked at different layouts, went shopping for supplies, and actually listened to me (I scrap, but in a very simple way).  It was a very time consuming process for her with a lot of researching before she started working.  Once she started working on her pages, it was even more time consuming because she wanted everything just right.  She started with one plan and ended up in a different direction with her pages, but the end result was really nice!  I see this scrapbook being entered into the fair in future years!

     Her next two projects were a love that she shares with her dad, photography.  She spent several days taking pictures to get just the right shots for her projects.  I have grey hair to show just how hard she worked on those pictures.  We don't have a great editing system and our printer is iffy, so she edited the photos on Shutterfly.  And she hated the process...but she stuck with it, deciding which pictures were fair worthy and which were just okay.  She didn't pick the pictures that Jim and I would have, but we were not the ones doing the projects.  The next step was deciding on her layouts for the posters.  Another long process.  There are only so many ways to put 10 photos on a board along with lettering, but she did finally come up with a solution.  Again, I am proud of how hard she worked to do these two projects.  I think this is an area that Delainey will continue to explore.  I would love to get she and Jim a class that they could take together to learn more about digital photography (note to self...this would be a great Christmas gift for them).

     Her shell collection was by far her least favorite.  She had to research the names of the shells, label each one and then on her sheet, she had to tell where and when the shells were found.  She also had to assign a monetary value to the collection.  I love what she wrote about that....she listed each shell as $0 value, but the total price of the collection was priceless to her.  While she enjoys collecting many things, she didn't enjoy the paperwork aspect of this project at all.  I love the shells and since we love to vacation by the beach (any beach), I know the collection will grow.  I am just not sure if she will continue to show it at the fair.

     I have enjoyed watching the progress of Delainey through these projects.  It was a struggle at times, but Jim and I let D struggle through the projects.  They are her work, done by her, with a little (sometimes more than a little) nagging done by us.  We (Jim and I) are not in 4H, Delainey is. She did the work, she earned the results and the results were pretty impressive to us...one red ribbon, two blue ribbons, and a champion!  We are the proud parents...she is the proud 4H member.