The Patrol Method
Lessons and questions of Scout leadership and operating troop program
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LATEST POSTS
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You guys have to be careful here. A "day camp" is also an event that 1 day but "recurring". So say you have a 1 day skills tournament district event. If you repeat that within the same calendar year months apart and with a different name but exactly the same "whatever" it is now a "day camp" and must follow NCAP. Like I said, there is a lot of gray area out there and there are too many 22 year olds that can pivot to a different career and nothing worth a lick out there making decisions and spouting non-sense. -
We have a very good relationship with our CO and as long as we continue to support their service program to the community they not only charter us but cut all of the units a check to cover advancement and administrative costs. This allows us to focus all cost on the average cost of an outing; we do make adults pay their own way on outings which also keeps the costs down for the scouts (part of that is so many of us leaders would be camping regardless so we've created low cost for scouts troop). My troop is also in a state where there are ways to get state campsites for free/super reduced for youth organizations; so when we use state properties for camping we're basically cutting the site cost out. The troop in the past has had campouts as cheap as $4 a head, there is a neighboring troop that does this as well. To be clear we've average the cost of outings to $25 to make everything easier and more consistent for parents. I personally think we could get the cost down closer to or below $15. We have a very large troop so there is an economy of scale that we have yet to leverage correctly. This methodology becomes a success-begets-success situation. As the average number of scouts and adults per outing goes up, the average cost of site rentals spreads thinner and thinner across more people. We still have some outings where portion sizes are out of control; we need to get better at teaching the scouts to read portion sizes (especially on dehydrated foods) more accurately; we could shave some cost off of food as well. Circling back to adults paying their own way; I know that there are units that can't do this. We have an economy of scale situation where we just re-registered 34 troop leaders and we're looking to pick up at least 4 more at crossover in March. There is a core of about 10 of us that go on every outing, we have about another 5 that do some outings. The remainder of leaders perform that more administrative purpose. A troop that has 6 leaders period can't do this right? If you have 3 leaders that can't afford pay their own way on every outing the troop is forced to figure something out which is often that the cost is passed on to the scouts. This economy of scale situation also keeps costs down for the scouts as there are so many of us that just order something online and donate it when the troop needs it instead of the troop having to budget a lot for equipment maintenance and replacement.
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By Eagle94-A1 · Posted
Something on my newsfeed. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/soaring-price-youth-sports-50-174913819.html -
By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
You hit the nail on the head again. Our unit send some poorly written emails and it drives my wife nuts. But the senders are willing to do the work and they do it pretty well, so you'll never hear me gripe about their communication style. Their efforts have made the Pack's program much stronger, but some people can't get past the amateur emails because they're used to a higher standard at work or through other kids' activities run by a for-profit operator. -
By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
A few more suggestions: take responsibility for portions of a family reunion (differentiated from immediate family) assist with a local parks and rec event (doesn't require an ongoing commitment) participate in a school service project (again, doesn't have to be an ongoing commitment) contribute to an online discussion (with parent supervision) write a letter to the editor of the local paper (civic engagement) I hope this Scout is able to earn Eagle, if he desires, but I would think improving his grades should take priority over a merit badge. Not every Scout needs to aim for straight A's, but passing all classes is a fair expectation.
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