The county Record Book Deadline is May 24, 2024.
Here is a link to a Zoom training we held in November of 2023. It gives you an overview of Record Books!
COUNTY RECORD BOOK SUBMISSION
- Email Record Book, 4-H Story, and Photo Portfolio to steven.baringer@ag.tamu.edu OR
- Upload here – Link Coming Soon
Recordkeeping is a valuable skill taught to members of the Texas 4-H program. Members are encouraged to keep project records and have these records reviewed annually by submitting a Texas 4-H Record Book. The primary purposes of completing a Record Book are for a young person to develop the skills necessary to set goals, work toward achieving those goals, reflect on his/her experiences, and set new and higher goals for themselves. A secondary benefit is to prepare young people for the process of completing academic scholarship and/or collegiate admission applications.
Recordkeeping – maintaining a history of one’s activities such as financial dealings or life events by entering data in ledgers, journals, calendars or putting items into a file system; an essential life skill. 4-H
Record Book – the competitive event where 4-H members assemble their records into a specified document and submit those for evaluation against other 4-H members. However, one may choose to complete a record book just for the skill learned and not elect to submit for competition.
4-H Record Worksheet – This is an example of how you can start to document all of your 4-H activities. This will help you compile everything for your record book.
Purpose/Objective of 4-H Record Book
- Allow 4-H members to tell how they have grown, what they have learned, where they came up short and to do it creatively within outlined parameters.
- Demonstrate the importance of keeping a written document of what has been done.
- Provides a written platform for goal setting and documentation of the actions required to reach goals.
- Provide an opportunity for competition at the County, District, and State level
Below are some resources from Texas 4-H. The family guide will help you walk through the entire record book process, I would suggest having it in front of you as you watch the training series on YouTube from Montgomery County 4-H Agent Michelle Mihalek. Please also review the record book categories to see where your project is categorized. If you have questions, please ask your club leader or 4-H Agent!
Record Book Family Guide 2023-2024
Need help getting started with your story? Try this:
- The first couple of sentences in the first paragraph should start with something that catches the reader’s interest pertaining to the main project (email Steven for examples!), followed by who they are, the community they live in, and family members.
- The second paragraph covers what club they are in, how long in 4-H, why they started, and a list of all of their projects.
- The third paragraph starts with their main project.
Think about ending your story with the following 3 paragraphs:
- Community service – 4-H related and non-4-H, if they lead/organized the community service for their club or county,
- Leadership – (non project related leadership) officer positions, workshops on leadership, camps, etc.
- Conclusion – what 4-H has done for them and what they look forward to the next year.
You can also look at this 4-H Story Guideline
1: What is a 4-H Record Book? https://youtu.be/5MguA73eVOo
2: 4-H Record Book Story and Photo Portfolio https://youtu.be/sssNcnj3GrU
3: 4-H Record Book Form Section I https://youtu.be/oJPu23zHMRs
4: 4-H Record Book Form Sections II & III https://youtu.be/0WDtHdVGLTI
5: 4-H Record Book Form Final Sections https://youtu.be/KtCdSD1OLj8
