Record Book Tips
Record keeping and Project Reporting are valuable skills taught to members of the Kansas 4-H program. Members are encouraged to keep a permanent record of all 4-H and Non-4-H Experience and are encouraged to summarize their experiences on the Kansas 4-H Project Report Form for project recognition.
4-H Record Book Order
- Personal Page
- Permanent Record
- Project Record with at least one page of pictures for each project enrolled in.
Make sure you Have all your signatures before your book is turned in.
Record Book Tip #1
Personal Page: Complete all the blanks on the top half, List projects in ABC Order, by their Official Name. Be sure everyone has signed off on the page.
Example:
Clothing and Textiles
Foods & Nutrition
Swine - Breeding, Market
Visual Arts
Record Book Tip #2: Goals
Project Goals, should have been written back in October/November when you enrolled in your projects. However, if that did not happen, you will need to think back to why did you enroll in this project? What did you want to learn? What did you need to buy this year? What project related events did you want to attend?
Record Book Tip #3:
This is kinda Old School, but I think still a VERY GOOD IDEA.... Your Project Record Should consist of 50% Project Work - What you learned, What you did; 25% Leadership within this project and 25% Citizenship within this project. With that being said, you will want your Goals, your 4-H Story, your Project Experiences, your expenses to follow suit with this rule.
ALL 4-H Members can do both Leadership and Citizenship in EVERY project. I like to tell 4-H members that Leadership is teaching, helping others learn and doing anything that must be done for learning to take place. Some ideas are setting up/taking down chairs and tables for a Visual Arts Project meeting, setting up the Visual Arts display cabinets for County Fair (must happen for the Project to go smoothly).
Citizenship is any GIVING and SHARING, giving away items you made, sharing your supplies with others. Sharing your project with school or senior citizen groups.
If you have questions -- good rule of thumb is to put it down even if it is in the wrong place, its better to have it than not.
Record Book Tip #4
Records should be kept all year long either in a notebook, on a calendar or whatever process works best for you and your family. Keep track of the Meetings, events, project meetings that you attend.
Here are some other things you might choose to include in your 4-H record keeping:
- Poultry - Keep track of daily egg collection
- Livestock - each time you purchase grain, hay, fee, supplies write down the amount of money spent.
- NO PROJECT IS FREE. Your Income and Expense information should be in your record somewhere.
- Foods - Keep a list on the refrigerator every time you make macaroni & cheese, cookies, etc. write it down.
- Foods is easy to do citizenship -- donated cookies to school, church, 4-H Public Style review
- Foods/Beef - donated 5 lbs hamburger for Church chili supper.
- Crafts -- after school we created nature bugs from leaves and twigs.
- Recreation Soccer -- 6 practice and 4 games
- Church - lit the candles (Section 3 of Permanent Record)
- School - Spring Music Concert (Section 2 Perm. Rec)
- Livestock -- spent 4 hours cleaning pens and repairing
- Livestock -- Spent 2 hours helping dad doctor the yearling heifers.
