Shooting sports

Since I knew nothing about what "4-H shooting sports" is, I am guessing that most of you don't either.

So I'm gonna tell you.

Pretend you care.

The kids learn weapon safety (i.e. don't point the gun at anybody, don't carry a loaded gun, stuff like that).

Then depending on their age, they have different positions to shoot in. Daisy's age they only do prone, which is laying on their belly. In a couple/few years she will be able to do all three: prone, kneeling, and standing.

Sounds pretty simple huh?

Except the targets are little. They are about the size of a silver dollar. The grown ups use binoculars to see if the kids are hitting the target.

And not just good binoculars. They use high powered binocular.

And you want to hit as close to the center of the target as you can (think of a dart board with its bulls eye. Except the bulls eye is smaller than a pencil eraser.)

And you are 50 feet away.

Wanna see?



I circled her targets with red. They have 3 sheets of paper with 12 circles - 2 practice targets and 10 real targets.

I am not telling you all this so you think "WOW! Daisy must be a great shot."

Cause she isn't.

She is awful a pretty bad shot on these targets.

Then again, I suppose being able to hit the piece of paper means she could hit a deer.

4-H

This year 4-H was great. We thouroughly enjoyed entomology, so much that I will be the adult leader next year. Wildlife was fun, and Food and Nutrition was great. This fall we will be doing those, plus maybe rabbits and shooting sports. I have so many ideas for fun activities for entomology. I do have to share an amazing resource The Gloworm I accidentally found it while researching Luna moths. Anyway, if you or your kids are remotely interested in insects, there is alot of fascinating info.

I was talking to a friend about 4-H and she asked if the kids actually learn anything or if it's just another babysitting activity. My first response was "absolutely not!!" but then I begin to think about it.

4-H like any other eduational activity, can teach you an amazing amount or almost nothing. It depends on what the student puts into it. There are wonderful 4-H learning resources, and projects but if you or your child attends but doesn't listen or read anything outside the meetings, then they will get absolutely nothing out of it.

To be honest, we didn't get a whole lot out of Wildlife, (we learned some but not that much) BUT that is completely our fault. All we did was attend the meetings. There was some interesting information learned, all of us can now point out the American Beauty Berry, favorite snack of deer,as well as some other trees.

I must admit though that I have become one of THOSE mama's, I push my kids into doing something because I am interested in it. So I don't normally leave them at the meetings, or sit in the car because I am interested in what they are learning too.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

I love 4-H ! ! !

Growing up, I don't know why I didn't do 4-H, if it was offered in my area. I guess because of the idea that it was for country people.

With Daisy, we tried Girl Scouts, and in our area, it just wasn't a good experience.

Then we tried 4-H. Oh, Wow! 4-H just has so much to offer! There is a wide variety of projects, and most of them are not limited to "country stuff" like cows and goats.

Our 4-H club is made up of homeschoolers, which is great. It helps the kids be more connected with their homeschooling peers. Daisy is involved in Food and Nutrition, Entomology, and some with wildlife. Both kids have gotten enthusiastic about the bug collecting/ nature walk for entomology. To be honest, I didn't realize that entomology could be this interesting. We have gotten to see tiny little insects that we collected in our yard under a microscope.

Food and Nutrition was a lot of fun too. Daisy made a bread and won first prize in our county and was able to go on to district. She didn't win at district, but we learned alot. Junior has been planning what he wants to make for Food competition next year, and I think he is leaning toward a bread, because that is what big sis did. Wildlife was interesting, we just didn't do a whole lot with it because this was our first year in 4-H and we were a bit overwhelmed.

I am looking forward to next year and what we will participate in.

I encourage any of you, if you are looking for something to add to your curriculum, look into 4-H. Beyond the educational benefits, 4-H encourages leadership skills (even in the younger ones) and community service. Not to mention, there are scholarship opportunities. Not that I am worried right now about scholarships but if I wait till Daisy is older, it will be more difficult to get scholarships.

Anyway, 4-H is a great opportunity that I encourage everyone to look into.