According to the National Home Education Research Institute, about 3.1 million homeschooled students in grades K-12 in the United States in 2021- 2022. According to the John Hopkins School of Education, 5% of Kentucky’s K-12 students were homeschooled. In Kentucky's far Mississippi River counties, the number of homeschooled students seems to have significantly increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. As this number continues to rise, homeschool families are looking to take advantage of Extension programs offered to the community for fellowship opportunities, strengthening life skills for youth, and expanding knowledge on numerous educational topics. 

4-H Youth Development programs in Fulton, Carlisle, and Hickman Counties collaborated to offer monthly positive youth development programming to this new audience. The Tri-County 4-H Homeschool Club was formed with interest and began meeting once per month for a two-hour educational lesson and fellowship. During the first year, the lesson topic focused on each core content area of the Kentucky 4-H program. 100% of members demonstrated a skill they had learned. Five members were elected to leadership roles within the club. Two of them serve in state and regional 4-H teen leadership roles. 100% of members participated in a service activity. 100% worked as a team or group to accomplish a common task/goal.  

The Tri-County 4-H Homeschool Club targets families currently homeschooling their children in Fulton, Hickman, and Carlisle Counties. The educational lessons are designed to help school-aged children find their spark and a greater sense of belonging; however, the club welcomes younger Clover Bud participants. The monthly meetings averaged 27 homeschooled students and ten parents in attendance. Families often spend time together during and after the meetings, sharing homeschool tips and planning to spend more time together. Several parents reported finding new friends, mentors and other educational and community engagement opportunities. 

 The following is a participant response in the form of a news article by the Club Secretary, Ava Dixon.

As the school year ends, Tri-County Homeschool 4-H would like to reflect on what we’ve done during the 2023- 2024 school year; this is our first year of 4-H!

Our first meeting was about the basics of 4-H and getting to know each other. We learned the 4-H pledge and what to expect later in the school year, such as clubs, community projects, and competitions. We did an S.E.T. activity in which we made towers from various materials, such as marshmallows, tape, Styrofoam cups, and skewers. 

At our second meeting, we started discussing leadership roles and positions for our 4-H members. To put ourselves in leadership positions, we did a play dough activity. In this activity, we separated into groups. Each group then chose a leader. The leader would listen to the suggestions of the other team members and decide whether to implement the suggestions. We also made some delicious pumpkin pie in a cup.

In our third meeting, we held officer elections. The elected officers were President Eryn Wilson, Vice President Honor Coker, Secretary Decklyn Coker, and Reporter Ava Dixon. This week's content area was family consumer sciences. Our activity was preparing a healthy dish for everyone to try.

We kicked off our first meeting of the new year with a lesson on communication. Our fun activity with this lesson was creating a Lego story, where we built and wrote a story we shared as a team. Another way we showed our communication skills was by making a parliamentary trail mix. We made our point as to why or why we should not add a certain ingredient and put it to a vote to make our final decisions on whether to add the ingredient. 

At our fifth meeting, we spent lots of time outside! We learned about health and exercise, played the parachute game, and ran around the track at Hickman County High School! This was when we decided on our community service projects: making care packets for the troops at Fort Campbell and volunteering at Columbus Park. 

The sixth meeting kept us quite busy. We learned about agriculture and experimented with a homemade pH litmus test. We also learned about composting and started some seeds in small gardens. 

In our seventh meeting, we learned about natural resources, watersheds, and the importance of cleaning up after yourself so that these areas do not become polluted. Our activity was a relay race with recyclable items and making seed bombs.

We’ve had a great time at 4-H and are excited to see what our amazing teachers have planned for us next school year!