Eagle76

I played around some more, and here's the link - assuming pasting the link works. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/boy-scouts/1st-scout-schedule.asp

I found something like this on the web a couple months ago. It was on www.boyscouttrail.com. I bookmarked the site, but I just tried it and it seems to be having problems. I'll try to paste (and massage) the document I downloaded here. If it's a mess, I apologize. I plan to show this to my PLC as an example of planning activities for the advancement of new Scouts. I believe there was comment on the site their troop met twice per month as a troop, and met a third night in patrols, which is why the plan is as you see it. Month Activities March Do J1,2,3 to join a troop. 1st

You are not alone in your struggle. The different twist in our troop is that many committee members have been to SM/ASM training, so they think they know what they're doing. They say over and over "It's a Boy Run Troop" in the Orwellian 1984-ish belief that saying it makes it so. They are blind to the degree to which they take over activities. Example: Last Saturday's Scouting for Food drive, the ex-SM, now ASM was handing out the maps, he and the committee chairperson were telling the boys to buddy up and start out. The SPL hadn't arrived yet, so they took over. Example: Saturday n

Well, I wasn't going to get into the grammatical syntax arguement, but I changed my mind. 1. Camp a total of at least 20 days and nights. You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement. Sleep each night under the sky or in a tent you have pitched (long-term camp excluded). To me, if you take the last sentence and form the the converse, it would be: For long-term camp you do not need to sleep under the sky or in a tent you have pitched. BTW, note only one week of long-term camp counts.

Camp Royaneh of the San Francisco Bay Area Council mostly has 2-man platform tents. However, one campsite consists of six 8-man cabins, which is used by the largest troops. (A couple other campsites may also have the cabins.) The cabins are square, with walls that go halfway up. No door, just a gap in the wall. In my opinon, scouts from troops assigned to these cabins should be able to count their long-term camp toward the Camping MB requirements.

I'll disagree with drakmund on one point, but bear in mind that I'm smack in the middle of the very same challenge myself. "Canoe trip" might be sufficient to write into a plan, as the options are probably limited, but rather than just scheduling "camping trip" I believe the boys should select the locations. Provide them with options and ideas, but let them pick. I say this because in the past our committee has done the bulk of the scheduling, with the result that the same locations are sheduled year after year. Turnout last year was 9 out of 38 Scouts? Doesn't matter, they're comfortable

EagleinKY - You're preaching to the choir. But this is exactly the situation we (The SM and I) are facing: a troop committee which utters the phrase "It's a Boy-run Troop" like a mantra, while inserting themselves into all levels of the "program" side of the house.

Historically, in our troop the SPL and ASPL's have camped with their old patrol. They were all rather startled when I pointed out to them at the last PLC that they were not part a patrol during their term of service, but that their attention should be on the whole troop. The immediate question raised was what to do on campouts. I discussed it with the SM, and going forward the troop leadership will tent together, and they will split up and eat with a different patrol each campout. They'll still foot their share of the food bill, but will not be burdened with cooking or cleaning duties.

Kenk, our troop has been experiencing some of the same problems you observed, but our new leadership is attempting to change things. The patrol method was weak to non-existent, with "virtual patrols" on campouts. So we re-organized patrols, making them a little larger, and going forward campout patrols may be as small as 2, but the intent is to maintain patrol integrity. Only single scouts will be joined to another patrol. Cooking/cleaning has not been done by adults, but what has happened is the boys have been taking the easy way out, planning menus which minimize the cooking and cle

These are the requirements I had in mind. 3. Make a written plan for an overnight trek and explain how to get to your camping spot using a topographical map and compass. Although one could probably argue that you don't actually have to go on the planned trek. 7. Prepare for an overnight campout with your patrol by doing the following: a. Make a checklist of personal and patrol gear that will be needed. b. Prepare a camp menu that is right for backpacking. Give recipes and make a food list for your patrol. Plan two breakfasts, three lunches, and two suppers. Discuss ho

A couple of our Scouts (Star rank) turned in completed MB blue cards from summer camp for Camping MB. My first thought was, "How sad that they should get a merit badge for Camping when they've never camped out of sight of their cars." (I am engaged in a campaign move us away from an all car camping program.) Then I looked at the requirements, and frankly, I don't see how the boys could have met them the way our program is. As an ASM, should I do or say something? If so, what? Many thanks.

I had a committee member tell me that boys below the rank of 1st Class could not sleep alone in a tent on campouts. The second time she told me this, I asked her if it was written down somewhere. She said it was in our troop parents handbook. I could not find this "requirement" there, nor did I find anything like this in the Guide to Safe Scouting. Is anyone out there aware of a rule like this, or have similar policies within their troops? Thanks.

Thanks again for all your thoughts. Here are the answers to some of the questions that have been asked. First, our new SM has been trained, and he and I are of one mind as to the need to make some changes hey, thats one of the reasons he asked me to become an ASM. One of the first things were doing is reorganizing the patrols. Some had become small, and some were leaderless and/or totally dysfunctional. This was his idea, after I pointed out to him some of the problems I had observed. This was presented to the PLC, and they agreed. In fact, the main purpose of the PLC meeting I men

I think the idea of splitting large troop or packs to form new ones is attractive, but there is another potential obstacle. Our Cub pack historically recruited from 4 elementary schools, although most members came from 2 of those. On a couple occasions the District rep wanted us to stop recruiting at a couple of them, because they wanted to form a new unit there. In one case, they apparently even had a unit number reserved for that pack. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and this is when our committee members began discussing how it would be better to help us recruit, then split the pack if

Let me add my support to a couple of Proud Eagle's points by serving as a negative example. My son's troop has NOT assigned an ASM to the New Scout Patrol in the past. Although a Troop Guide was appointed, they either were inadequately trained or inadequately advised. As a result, first-year Scouts experienced a very disappointing, non-productive year. I believe this was due to a too-strong belief in "letting the boys do it." A boy may learn to swim by being thrown into the swimming hole, but that doesn't make it the best way to learn. Some instruction and guidance by adults is needed

Thanks for your thoughts. Several (fairly new) boys dropped out last September, but as we were just joining up, I don't know their reasons. I don't think they went to other, more active, troops, but rather dropped out of Scouting. I don't think Scout retention is a problem (yet), but trip participation has definitely been low, as a couple of you guessed. However, apparently I will have to work a little to get others to see the connection. The troop has done the same things and gone to the same places, year after year, and done nothing at those same places. I was very disappointed wit

Hi all. I would appreciate the opinions of the knowledgeable and experienced members of this forum. I have learned much from you in my recent browsing. Here's the situation: My son bridged into our troop one year ago. In December, a new SM took over. This spring I went through training, and became an ASM in June. During this past year, all campouts have been "car camping", and most campouts have no planned activities. Recently, at the first PLC meeting I attended, there was some discussion of the schedule for the coming year. When it was suggested that we add variety to our campin