infoscouter

Be as respectful and prepared as you can be. If your part includes pronouncing the name of the honoree, make sure you know how to say the name correctly.

I saw this ceremony a few months ago when a long time Scouter and friend passed away. It was very moving. The family will appreciate your effort.

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I'm not a tax professional, but I believe this is no longer the case. Donations over a certain amount HAVE to be acknowledged by the recipient with the disclaimer that no goods or services were received, etc. etc.

This is a matter for the Chartered Organization, because *they* have to acknowledge the gift and provide their Federal tax ID number, in order for the donor to receive the tax benefit.

If you're worried that the money will somehow disappear into a black hole at the CO, work with the donor and spec what you want. Have them order and pay for the track, and have it delivered.

When the background check program was initiated, I believe there was a national contract signed with one of the background check firms. I believe that company is still the one being used. The firm is called Choicepoint, which is part of Lexis/Nexis.

Choicepoint is a data aggregator. They buy databases (such as arrest and criminal conviction records) from various jurisdictions and combine that data into massive information banks. There is some question on how up to date and accurate this data is, but firms like this are really the only way to do a fully national search.

I don't know if each council has its own login to Choicepoint, and checks are done locally, or if the searches take place at the National council, but it is done, and its more than the reference check.

Six of our 8 council camps are within two hours of my part of the council. Most of the council has at least one camp within 2 hours drive. At least two other council's camps could also potentially be reached withing 2-3 hours from some parts of our council.

Basement - it depends on the camp, the particular facility, and what training your adults have. So - one of our 8 camps is about 1.5 hours from here. It has for the summer Cub Camping season, shooting sports, horses, a climbing tower, craft cabin canoes/boats (in a river) a Cub appropriate COPE type area and a pool. The pool gets drained in the fall - so no use there. If you have a leader (any program) who is range trained, you can use the shooting sports area. Horses only if the ranger can wrangle for you - and not in winter. Climbing tower is not a Cub program, but a Venturing Crew or Boy Scout troop with our council's climbing training (Not just Climb on Safely), can use the tower. Buildings are available for rent, including a bunkhouse type facilities w/ running water & toilets.

The situation is the same at most of the other camps - what can be used depends on the season. One of the Boy Scout residents camps is the venue for the Boy Scout winter camping program. THree of the others are used for the Cub Scouts fall and winter day camps. Unit use on those weekends is limited due to the other programming.

There is an updated Cub RT guide for 2011-2012. It covers different ideas than last year's.

Since they have started adding back theme ideas to the suggested Cub Scout program, I have been incorporating some of those into our RT program.

The leaders in my district tell us the most valuable thing for them about RT are the postition specific breakouts. TRY and recruit enough staff to lead those break-outs (who will adequately prepare before hand to have effective learning take place).

Last month, our PLC announced a Merit Badge contest. The Scout and patrol who earn the most badges before the next Court of Honor will win a prize. So far, it has motivated them to start (lots of blue cards issued), but not finish - only four completed. We'll see how it goes as the deadline looms. I believe there is a second phase, running until the June Court of Honor.

The illustration is a typical composite that was done in newspapers at the time - a photo combined with a line drawing done by a staff artist at the paper. (I worked in a newspaper library for a while when I was in college, and saw lots of illustrations like this).

As to the clothing, routinely up until about the 1920's/30's young boys wore dresses. My dad (born in 1926) wore dresses until age 4 or 5. Also children's shirts, particularly the dress shirts worn for studio photos (which were rare and expensive) had wide and often ruffled collars. At one time, the more embellishement on a garment (ruffles, tucks, etc) signified how well to do one was - it meant you could afford not just the fabric, but the time and skills of a high-end seamstress.

The photo was probably obtained from the family and may have been taken when the young boy was a toddler, when he would have worn a dress, or for a special occassion, when he would have been dressed up.

Basement - I did much the same thing this year. My council will provide handouts if we get them in two weeks before UofS. Even though I was presenting two sessions I had done in previous years, I didn't get my act together to send them in on time. However, the attendance sheet for the sessions included everyone's e-mail address. During my lunch break, I put everyone's e-mail in a spreadsheet, and after the session e-mailed the presentation, being careful to use the bcc feature, to protect their privacy.

The year before, I burned one presentation and a bunch of supporting materials to CDs and handed those out instead of the paper.

However, I did get feedback from the learners that they like to have something on which to take notes, so in future I plan to be more organized :-) and get the handouts in early.

There's a lot of good information here, but as others have said the slides are too busy.

As a general rule, a PowerPoint should have 3-5 bullet points per slide. Each bullet represents a highlight or big idea. You flesh out the meaning of the point with your spoken presentation.

Right now, much of what is on the slides is what should be your script for your verbal presentation. Transfer the info to the "notes" section of the presentation, and use it to guide what you say. After the seession, provide your learners with a handout, which includes the slides and the notes.

Graphics distract from what you're trying to communicate (the audience reads the cartoon and doesn't listen to you!) use them sparingly, or put them in separate slides.

Some tips:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/10-tips-for-more-effective-powerpoint-presentations.html

You have also misspelled Webelos. Remember - its not a plural, but an acronym "WE'll BE LOyal Scouts" - WE BE LO S. Without the "S" they're not Scouts!!

Please let us see the completed presentation. Good luck!

Max - Welding merit badge is scheduled for release later this month or sometime next month, depending on when the requirements get finalized:

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2011/11/16/next-up-welding-merit-badge/

Several of the boys in our troop and the pack which is associated with it attend a local Montessori school. The committee chair of both units is a staff member at the school.

She sees a lot of synergy between Scouting and the Montessori learning philosophy.

Apparently Dr. Montessori did as well. According to this article she exchanged correspondence with Baden-Powell regarding their philosophies of education: http://www.kelpin.nl/fred/artikelen/mariaenrobert.pdf

See also:

http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Ar-Bo/Baden-Powell-Robert-1857-1941.html

If the forum owner doesn't mind a promo . . .

I know I have encountered posters here who have also participated in the Cub_Scout_Talk forum on Yahoo! Earlier this month, that list went dark for reasons unknown. As of today, we have restarted the list, and invite those who are so inclined, to join us in discussing Cub Scouting.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cub_Scout_Talk/

Thank you for your time - now back to your regularly scheduled Scouting.

I guess I should have seen this coming. The National Council has started posting alternate pack meeting plans which correspond to the core values, so packs are not repeating the same meeting year after year.

"The planswhich contain several pages of program suggestions, stories, puzzles, and more, compiled into a downloadable PDF fileare being rolled out between now and next May. The first three, centered around the values of cooperation, responsibility, and citizenship, are already online at the Pack Meeting Plans site on scouting.org/cubscouts."

http://scout-wire.org/2011/11/22/new-online-theme-based-pack-meeting-plans/

Ooh ooh. I qualify for at least part of that Scrounger position. Need a peanut butter jar? Coffe can? Beads?

Adult babysitter - to keep helicopter parents out of the way of the boys. Seriously, we had to make a rule parents couldn't sit in the same room where the troop is meeting.

The Guide to Safe Scouting set this as the standard for Cub Scout camping:

"In most cases, each youth member will be under the supervision of a parent or guardian. In all cases, each youth participant is responsible to a specific adult."

Sometimes when we talk about citizenship as an aim, we get it mixed up with patriotism or even nationalism. Citizenship is taught everytime a Scout participates in a service project, or votes in a patrol leader election. Everytime a Venturer staffs a Cub Scout camp, or a Cub Scout picks up trash in the schoolyard, she or he is demonstrating citizenship. They are living the concept of improving their community, of being contributing citizens.

Yes, the patriotic aspects - respect for the flag, knowledge of our government and its functions are part of it too. But being a good citizen imbues many aspects of what we do without an overt declaration.

While Baden Powell started Scouting in Great Britain, and he started out forming citizens of the British Empire, we shortly became a world-wide movement, he saw the potential for forming citzens of the world.

I don't think citizenship has taken a back seat at all. We practice it all the time - it just doesn't get labeled that way.

I'd also cover pack communcations. Newsletters, email lists, parent handbooks, and orientation meetings.

They may be teaching another whole course on the topic, but I would touch on Journey to Excellence and the recordkeeping involved to earn it. Its a whole lot easier to keep track of all the criteria while the year is progressing, rather than trying to scramble and find the numbers at recharter time.

This situation illustrates why the BSA suggest that Unit Commissioners not have this kind of relationship with the unit.

"Please dont assign unit commissioners to their own units or chartered organizations. A commissioner needs an objective view as an arm of the district and council. Avoid potential conflicts of interest."

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34501.pdf p.9

It was a poor call on the DC's part. I understand why the District Commissioner went for this. He's not the unit leader any more, but is familiar w/ the unit, so it looks like a good fit. But he's not in a position to be impartial, and that is a problem.

UC's are often assigned to all the units in a Chartered Organization, and you could suggest that as an alternative.

While running your communications with the pack through the Cubmaster is respectful, nothing prevents you from directly approaching Webelos leaders. If the CM were playing games, I would just forge the relationship with others who may have more open attitudes.

We don't require members of our district training staff to be registered as members of the district committee. Only the Training Chair and the training coordinators for Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing are the registered members of the district committee. Similarly, we have dozens of people on the Activities and Civic Service Committee. Only the Activities Chair, the Cub Activities coordinator and Boy Scout Activities Coordinator are registered on the District Committee. we're more worried about being "fully staffed" in the top positions of the various commitees, not so much about those providing service in Membership, Finance, Camping, Activities, or Training (what did I forget?).

The exception of course would be Unit Commissioners, where every one needs to be registered.

As to the online application, I could see it for leaders, but I understand not having it for youth members. I don't see a way to effectively use an online application at a joining event, and sending them home to fill out the application online risks not having them follow through.

Also, the data entry on the forms is done with a scanner, not by hand - that's why the application has a little box for every letter/number you fill in. Someone still checks them and feeds them into the scanner, but they haven't been individually typed in for several years now.

One thing I always do when filling out a multiple application or changing positions, is to write my current membership number on the form. That way an additional record doesn't get accidentally generated.

Our system rewards uniform wear, but doesn't punish if the uniform is missing. At pack meetings, you get one door prize ticket for being at the meeting, one for wearing shirt w/neckerchier and an extra ticket for Scout pants. The more tickets you get, the more likely you are to win a prize.

At den meetings I've given beads for uniform wear. Once you've earned "x" blue or yellow beads you earn a gold bead.

"X" gold beads win you a treat.

One way to help boys wear their uniform is to give them a place to keep it. Have your dens make "Scout Buckets" where the Scout can keep all his Scouting gear (shirt, neckerchief, book, etc).

http://thetrainerscorner.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/cub-scout-buckets/

Our council uses a Position Change form. It must be signed by the leader changing positions and include the Social Security Number, but saves us from filling out a new application.

http://www.northernstarbsa.org/Forms/Membership/PositionChangeForm.pdf

A resource for all of you:

https://sites.google.com/site/autismandboyscouts/

Also - the Scout's ISAP (Individualized Scout Advancement Plan) should include behavior. The Scout, parents and leaders should all be involved in writing this document. http://www.wwswd.org/individual-plan.htm Leaders should be able to remind him, that his plan includes proper responses to social stresses, and redirect him to an appropriate activity.

Individuals with autism sometimes don't realize that their behaviors scare/disturb the neuro-typicals in society. They generally can't read other's facial expressions and body language to know that something is a joke or a serious threat. Teasing goes right over their heads (or into their hearts and wounds them).

What kind of guidelines has the Scout been given for appropriate behavior? Does he have a buddy to whom he can turn if he doesn't understand what how he's being treated by the other Scouts?

Is he mainstreamed in school? How does the school help him deal with similar treatment? He probably has strategies he uses there to cope, but because of his autism, can't generalize those same strategies to the Scouting context.

Have any of the other Scouts pursued the Disabilities Awareness merit badge? Do they understand or have they had any training on autism spectrum disorders and how to kindly interact with this Scout?

Its lots of work, but its worth it. He may not want to leave, he just is frustrated because he doesn't know how to be succesful in this type of social situation, which is much less structured that home and school. If his ISAP and some peer support can help him create that structure, his experience and behavior will likely improve.

Our council (Northern Star) operates two Boy Scout resident camps. There are 8 weeks of camp at those sessions.

There are three facilities at which we operate Cub Resident camps, for periods of 2-4 days. Depending on the program, these run from mid-June to late July or mid-August. Here's this past summer's calendar: http://www.goscouting.org/forms/pdf/2011CubDates.pdf

Preliminary registration for 2011 indicated approx 4400 Cubs attending. Haven't seen Boy Scout numbers yet.