February 2011
Phone: 260-463-4901 • Fax 888-439-6528 • The Hometown Treasure
LaGrange County 4-H Seeks Home School Students
LaGrange County 4-H leaders are hoping home
school families will add 4-H as an informal education
option in their lessons. Enrollment in traditional 4-H
club projects is underway for the 2011 program, and
youth in grades 1-12 are sought who may not have had
previous access to the program. 4-H is a voluntary,
federally-authorized, asset-based organization whose
mission is to provide youth with opportunities to
develop life and career skills in fun and practical ways
that include the entire family.
Coordinated by the Purdue University Cooperative
Extension Service and some 150 adult volunteers, 4-H
can be especially relevant for home school families,
offering a variety of projects and teaching materials that
supplement traditional book learning with interactive
approaches to topics such as computers, electricity and
environmental science. These materials are relevant
for both teachers and parents who are building a
home school curriculum. Home school families can
incorporate 4-H projects into their academic lessons.
LaGrange County 4-H currently offers over fifty projects
for students in grades 3-12, and twenty for Future
or Mini 4-H youth in grades 1 and 2. Future 4-H is
designed to provide younger students with simple,
hands on learning opportunities in a non-competitive
atmosphere.
Most 4-H projects are research-based, written by
university faculty and targeted to age-appropriate
educational standards. LaGrange County 4-H has
worked to stay in step with the interests of contemporary
youth. Newer projects include computers, consumer
clothing, creative writing, reading, scrapbook, shooting
sports, and sports. 4-H is volunteer-based. Adult leaders
and parents offer their time and talents to assist youth
in reaching their fullest potential through practical
experience with hands-on activities, leadership
development, and community service.
The interest of 4-H in serving home school families
coincides with a rapid rate of growth in home school
enrollment, which has doubled – and possibly tripled
– during the last decade. Statistics provided by such
agencies as the U.S. Department of Education and the
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National Home Education Research Institute indicate
that this population now exceeds one million students.
Indiana and LaGrange County mirror the national
trend. For the 2005-06 school year, the last year in
which data are available, the Indiana Department
of Education reported home school enrollment of
23,455 – over five times the number of home schooled
students reported at the beginning of the decade. The
actual number may be even higher since Indiana does
not require families to notify state government if they
are home schooling.
The 4-H program is one of the largest youth-serving
organizations in the world. In 2010 some 200,000
continued on page 6
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