Our homeschoolers' 4-H club is the 5-H 4-H, a club of the Kalamazoo County 4-H (even though we don't all live in Kalamazoo County!) The fifth "H" is for homeschooling (even though we aren't all homeschoolers!) Confused? We aren't! Read here about our events and adventures and the Kalamazoo County Fair. 4H-ers, please send in an article!
September Meeting
Our first meeting at Pretty Lake. We filled out our enrollment forms. Hayden was not present due to a broken arm! The officers for this year are: President: Courtney Rockenbach. Vice President: Kevin Hoard. Secretary: James Green. Treasurer: Jack Carlson. Historian: Reality Rojas. Kevin was absent today.
Jack and Courtney did a demonstration of foam sword sparring that they learned at the Silver Leaf Faire as an idea for the Harvest Festival. Jack's mom provided prototype tunics. Courtney also collected items for our display to promote 4H for National 4H week, October 6-12. Our display will be at the main branch of the Kalamazoo Public Library in a display case on the second floor near the elevators.
Harvest Festival
The Kalamazoo County 4-H Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 26, was set in the main corridor of the Maple Hill Mall. There was a big turnout, because it was also the day that the shops in the mall were having trick-or-treating. Lots of kids came in costume. At the Harvest Festival, our 4-H club had a "Foam Sword Sparring" ring people could spar with our foam-padded swords. We had three rings, one larger ring and two smaller ones. There were two people in each ring, and if someone did not come with a friend to fight against, we could find someone. Jesse and Alex Hoffman helped a lot by being partners for the younger kids. The referees (Garth, Courteny, Jack, Hayden, and a few moms) wore tunics with a green dragon (green being the official color of 4-H) designed by my mom on the front. It was quite fun, and overall I believe a success. At the time of this writing, the exact amount of money that our sword sparring ring took in compared to other clubs is unclear, but I am pretty sure that we did well. Other clubs had to bring prizes, and we did not have to give out prizes. Our sword sparring ring was quite cheap (the swords only cost a couple dollars each) and we use the swords ourselves a lot, too. The swords are made out of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and several different types of padding including pipe insulation and pool fun noodles, and of course silver Duct Tape to cover it all so it looks sort of like a real sword. Courtney and her mom, Garth and I made the swords. We had a ring that was 20' by 20', and inside there were two small 10' by 10' rings and one 10' by 20' ring.
--by Jack Carlson
Wow! Be sure to see the huge 5H community club 4H Centennial display at the downtown Kalamazoo Public Library. We put it up for National 4-H Week, but the library will leave it up until the end of October. There are pictures of almost every 4H project you can think of, plus 100 cloverleafs for the 100 years of 4-H! It's in the big display case on the second floor by the elevators. If you look closely, you might find YOUR picture in there somewhere! Thanks so much to Sue and Courtney for gathering materials and designing this display.
