You need to have dividing tabs in this order: Calendar, Project Record (one for each project such as sewing, food preservation, photography, each kind of animal, each shooting sport division, etc), 4-H Story, and Permanent Record.
For the calendar you want to have dates for meetings, fairs, competitions, Super Saturday, anything that is 4-H related written in chronological order for each month with an “X” by each event that was attended.
For each project record you will need (in the following order): Project Record, Project Journal, Project Highlights, Project Photos, Financial Summary (only if no project add pages that have financial details), and any add pages particular to the project.
- Project Record is an agreement and plan made with your leader and your parents. The older and/or longer a youth has been in the project the more goals that should be planned. Often the leader has the same statement for each club member.
- Project Journal should have all entries for every event that you attended for that project from your calendar as well as any dates for project related activities such as shopping for materials, work at home, etc.
- Photos are limited to one side of a sheet of paper and should cover at least two aspects of the project, for example: a photo of pattern layout for one garment and a finished garment. They should be captioned.
- Project Highlights are done at the end and reflect back on what was learned; it can cover more but it should reflect back on the Project Record.
- Financial Summary is used if your Project Record pages don’t include financial details. Most project pages do have some kind of financial accountability.
The 4-H Story which includes an introduction of yourself to the reader, something about your projects that isn’t included in your highlights, experiences with your club, how you are involved in the community and about your schooling, and a reflection on life skills you have gained and how you have changed from being involved in 4-H.
The Supplemental Information is the last part of the book and comes after the 4-H Story in the same tab. It is limited to 2 sides of sheet of paper and can contain anything from your life, but you do not want to have project pictures here but you could have pictures of you helping others with their sewing project. It could be pictures of your club, community service, awards, articles, church, other activities, etc.
The Permanent Record is kept from year to year. For every year there should be an entry for each section even if it is “N/A”. The county rubric will be looking for growth in the areas that demonstrate larger responsibilities, etc.