Basic Life Skills for Youth and Adults in Scott CountyPlan of Work

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Scott County CES

Title:
Basic Life Skills for Youth and Adults in Scott County
MAP:
Acquiring Basic Life Skills
Agents Involved:
Allen, Johnson, Flynt, Redmon, Conner
MAJOR PROGRAM 1:
Leadership
MAJOR PROGRAM 2:
Communications and Expressive Arts
MAJOR PROGRAM 3:
Master Gardener
MAJOR PROGRAM 4:
Nutrition and Food Systems General
Situation:

How we live life is ever-changing but learning basic life skills is still as important as ever. Learning to practice healthy habits, select clothing to emphasize one’s best appearance, create and live within a budget, prepare nutritious meals safely, nurture children, create a safe and pleasant home environment, practice common courtesies, and form relationships with others—all of these skills are basic to everyday life. Many schools no longer include family and consumer sciences classes in the curriculum. Reality is that today’s youth and adults are busier than ever. Many of these basic life skills are not consistently taught to youth at home or at school. 4-H family and consumer sciences projects equip youth with these skills.

As with any other Kentucky 4-H Core Curriculum area, when it comes to development of life skills, a strong case can be made for the need to go beyond mere transfer of knowledge to giving youth the opportunity for a variety of supportive, related learning experiences to significantly increase the program’s influence.

4-H often offers basic learning activities on a topic of interest to youth but the addition of activities which support that interest (such as fair exhibits, related subject matter workshops or day camps, field trips, and decision-making judging contests) significantly increase the development of life skills in youth. In a study by Olson, Croymans and Ji (2014), 4-Hers reported that participating in 1 or 2 educational opportunities influenced the development of critical thinking and decision making skills, and participating in 6 to 8 opportunities significantly increased the program’s influence by adding development of life skills in leadership, planning/organization, wise use of resources, useful/marketable skills and accepting differences.

While many FCS skills can be learned through self-directed projects or school enrichment, it’s beneficial for youth to have the added experience and guidance of a trusted adult and the opportunity to form relationships with caring mentors. For many adults, long-term volunteering is not always possible but shorter-term volunteer roles create doable opportunities for more people to tuck volunteering into busy schedules. Special interest clubs and groups that meet for a few weeks or months broaden the possibilities. The volunteer efforts of multiple adults may be required to take the 4-H experience from club meetings alone to also include exhibits, field trips and more.

The consequences of the Pandemic and the period of slow economic growth encouraged Kentuckians to become more aware of their financial and food security situation. Kentucky consistently lags behind other areas of the United States in key household economic indicators, including: personal income, population living below the poverty line, food insecurity, unemployment, and revolving debt. These indicators, especially unemployment numbers became more exaggerated during the period of the Pandemic. It is important to acknowledge the impact of current economic conditions on family financial management. The goal of the Securing Financial Stability Initiative is to help Kentuckians understand and respond to changing economic conditions, while promoting healthy financial behaviors across the lifespan.

Long-Term Outcomes:

Youth / Adults will:

Intermediate Outcomes:

Youth / Adults will:

Initial Outcomes:

Youth / Adults  will:

Evaluation:

Outcome: Participants learn and practice life skills

Indicator: Knowledge gained

Method: Pre test and post test questionnaires, Common Measurements 

Timeline: Throughout the year


Intermediate Outcome: Apply soft skills to attain and retain employability

Indicator: ability to successfully implement soft skills

Method: mock job interviews, soft skills curriculum

Timeline: year round


Long-term Outcome: Adults and youth will be able to practice financial literacy

Indicator: Ability to apply knowledge

Method: financial related workshops and information

Timeline: year round

Learning Opportunities:

Audience: Extension Homemakers/General Public

Activity: Lesson Leader Training/Seminar

Content or Curriculum: SNAP Curriculum 

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Throughout the Year


Audience: Master Gardeners/General Public

Activity: Classes, Workshops

Content or Curriculum: Master Gardener curriculum

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Year Round 


Audience: 4-H Members/Youth

Activity: Youth clothing, knitting & crochet project group organization and leader training

Content or Curriculum: 4-H project material

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Spring


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Speech Contest

Content or Curriculum: Communication

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Spring


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Demonstration Contest

Content or Curriculum: Communication

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Spring


Audience: Youth/Adults

Activity: Training Adults, Youth Leadership

Content or Curriculum: Leadership, 4-H Camp Counselor Manual

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Summer/ Fall 


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Club Officer Training

Content or Curriculum: 4-H Officer Handbooks & Notebooks

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Fall


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Council Evaluation Training

Content or Curriculum: Community Conflict Resolution Materials

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: November


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Life Skills School Club Lessons

Content or Curriculum: 4-H Growing On My Own Curriculum

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Spring/ Fall 


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Summer Camp

Content or Curriculum: Summer Camp

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: June


Audience: Youth

Activity: 4-H Cloverbuds

Content or Curriculum: Penn State Cloverbuds/Arts and Crafts

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Monthly


Audience: Youth

Activity: Truth and Consequences

Content or Curriculum: Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Spring


Audience: Youth

Activity: It's your Reality

Content or Curriculum: Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: November 


Audience: General public

Activity: Estate planning workshops

Content or Curriculum: estate planning

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: annually


Audience: 4-H Youth 

Activity: 4-H Cooking 

Content or Curriculum: 4-H Cooking Curriculum 

Input: Staff, office equipment, curriculum, materials, volunteers

Date: Monthly 





Success Stories

Outdoor Cooking and Survival In-Service

Author: Patrick Allen

Major Program: Natural Resources

There has been an increasing interest in programs that get youth in the outdoors. For about four years now I have been learning more about and implementing more outdoor cooking programs in my county and at state level events. They have been well attended and seem to be making an impression with other county agents, as I am asked to teach Agents haw to lead these types of lessons more. I was approached by the camping program director about leading two outdoor cooking in-services at two of the fou

Full Story

Everyday Gardener Webinar Series

Author: Sharon Flynt

Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home

To adapt to changes in program delivery brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Horticulture Agents in 6 counties of District Four (Central Kentucky) collaborated to offer the Everyday Gardener Webinar Series. This 6-week series taught by agents provided educational classes related to horticulture. Over 100 participants registered and attended the classes.Those completing the evaluation survey expressed appreciation of the:•             wide variety of prog

Full Story

Kentucky 4-H Teen Summit

Author: Patrick Allen

Major Program: Leadership

Kentucky 4-H Summit Success StoryMarch 18-20, 2021Written By: Rachel E. Noble, Ed.D.Scott County 4-H information added by Patrick Allen Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2021 Kentucky 4-H Summit could not be implemented in the typical face-to-face format. Kentucky 4-H Program volunteers, members, and professionals decided, based on current events and fundamental developmental needs, that middle school youth needed the opportunity to connect to others and practice their leadership skills through 4

Full Story

Tool Care - a return to gardening

Author: Sharon Flynt

Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home

According to the National Gardening Association Annual Survey, interest in gardening in the U.S. nearly doubled in 2020. Those numbers included new gardeners who needed new tools, and those who had returned to gardening (thanks to free time provided by the quarantine) and found that neglect had taken a toll on their garden tools.  When you consider that garden tools can be quite a monetary investment for a gardener, a class on Tool Care made sense.  Keeping garden tools properly stored

Full Story

Teen Conference

Author: Patrick Allen

Major Program: Leadership

Success Story: Teen Conference 2021Written By: Rachel E. Noble, Ed.D., Extension Specialist for 4-H Youth Development  When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down programming in March 2020 youth, families, and communities experienced long-term isolation and alteration of their typical lives related to in and out of school activities. Youth out-of-school time programs, such as 4-H, are essential ecological assets and their disruption during the pandemic may have a major impact on youth&rs

Full Story

Natural Recourses and Environmental Education Program

Author: Patrick Allen

Major Program: Natural Resources

During the pandemic I have had the opportunity to reflect on and create an outline for an Natural Recourses program that will bring youth closer to the outdoors. The overall goals of this program are as follows; Increase the number of hours per week that youth spend outsideTeach youth some basic survival skills (fire building, shelter building, cooking) Increase environmental awareness - to help protect the environmentVisit a State or National Park and allow youth the opportunity to tr

Full Story

Temporary Program Becomes Long-Term

Author: Sharon Flynt

Major Program: Horticulture, Commercial

What began as a short term stop-gap for in-person programming during the 2020 Pandemic, has become a much-attended weekly horticulture program. Due to the continuing popularity of the Horticulture Webinar Wednesdays program a team of Kentucky Horticulture agents have continued to present weekly Wednesday webinars at 12:30 ET (11:30 CT) as a “lunch and learn” horticultural program. This team also includes agents, specialists, and other experts who present a 30–45-minute horticul

Full Story
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