Extension
It Starts With Us
Basic Life Skills for Youth and Adults in Scott County
Acquiring Basic Life Skills
Allen, Johnson, Flynt, Redmon, Conner
Leadership
Communications and Expressive Arts
Master Gardener
Nutrition and Food Systems General
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.
Youth / Adults will:
- Be responsible and contributing individuals and family members.
- Gain and maintain employment through life skill development.
- Contribute to a safe, pleasant and productive home and family.
- Number of individuals reporting improved family financial stability and economic well-being.
- Number of individuals who avoided breaches in personal or financial security.
- Improved the quality of their life resulting in a stronger family.
Youth / Adults will:
- Utilize and practice life skills in projects and life situations
- Project a positive image and self-confidence
- Practice responsible consumer and financial decision-making
- Practice healthy eating choices
- Make choices that lead to responsible and beneficial results
- Adopt habits and skills that contribute toward employability in the future
- Adopt one or more short, mid and long term financial planning strategies.
- Practice one or more resource management behavior(s) resulting in increased savings or investments
- Apply practical living skills to advance education or employability
- Examine personal and financial stability on a regular basis (at least annually)
Youth / Adults will:
- Gain knowledge and develop skills in core areas and other programs
- Understand the decision-making process
- Gain skills in setting a goal and developing a plan of action
- Learn to read and follow instructions
- Teenagers and adults will show increased knowledge and skills related to managing available financial and non-financial resources. (Social marketing and Program participants)
- Participants will increase understanding of consumer rights and privacy protection measures.
- Teens and young adults will simulate life situations to recognize importance of education and employability skills.
- Participants will identify short, medium and long term personal goals and objectives related to maintaining and improving their financial stability.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
