January 2020 – Emmerson's Journey

4-H Insectathon 2020

Insectathon is hands down my favorite 4-H Florida event. Each year we meet and compete in an identification, collection, and knowledge contest. This year I worked very hard on my collection and managed to place 1st with all of my collections (general and specialty ). I was really proud of how I did this year, I worked really hard to learn the material for the contest. I was pleased to receive the collection awards, 1st for the bee bowl in art and 1st for individual intermediate and our team also placed 1st! It was a great year at the contest!

Pre-Insectathon Madness

We all checked into different hotels around Gainesville and met up for dinner at Satchels Pizza. We had a great time talking bugs and life. Back at the hotel we ordered in midnight cookies for everyone and had a little pre-contest party in the lobby. It was a fun relaxing night before the big contest tomorrow.

Archery on the News

Mom was contacted by the news about wanting to do a short feature about the archery program we run. What a great opportunity for spreading the 4-H word. The reported sadly didnâ€™t include all of the good meaty 4-H part about if being a 501c3, youth program, focused on life skills, volunteer led and all the amazing opportunities youth have. Instead he did focus a little on life skills but made it sound like we were all delinquents a little. It was a life lesson for our club about how media can twist a simple story into something that it isnâ€™t quite the same. What happens in the editing room can really change the impact and focus of a story. It was good press for Pinellas County 4-H Archery either way.

Not many people saw the segment since it was trumped by TRUMP and his impeachment trial. The station it aired on went to the national feed during the segment. We were able to see it online and then it was eventually posted to their website.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/archery-club-in-largo-teaches-kids-lessons-beyond-the-bulls-eye

Happy 12th Birthday

For my birthday we had a party at Largo Central Park. Mom got a shelter and brought cupcakes and treats. We had a huge nerf gun battle. It was a lot of fun to have all my friends around me.

We had a silly party at home on my actual birthday. We couldn’t find candles so I blew out the torch!

Happy 12th to our amazing, strong willed, caring child! It is hard to believe that the baby of the house is ready 12 years old.

Sword Casting Guy

We went to a class on Bronze Age weaponry. We learned the history of the weapons that were used int he Bronze Age and the functional aspects and benefits of each type of sword. We got to then pick a blank to make our sword from. We worked with sand and frames to create a blank mold for the melted aluminum to be poured into. Bs first mold fell short but we quickly fixed it up and recast it. They when the rest of the swords were cast we learned some science of alloys and metals and about tensile strength. Who knew that history and science could be so engaging and hands on, only homeschoolers! haha Since B was one of the older teens, he was elected to help with the final shaping and smoothing of all 27 blades! He put on the safety gear and got a quick lesson in sanding and grinding. He was insanely nervous at first but quickly got the hang of it and was soon a picky professional. He was turning out finely finished and sharpened (slightly) swords for the other boys. We then wrapped leather grips onto the blades to finish them up. This was an awesome event. I highly recommend that you google Swordcasting guy and see if you can get into one of his classes soon. He is from Texas but will come to any area if the demand is high. Someday I want to make a Bronze sword with his program.Â