jeff-o

I like what mn-scout has done. This was our troop's first year and experience with this requirement. We got a few copies of a topographic map of an area where we were going camping and had a leader get there early. I used the map and marked 10 spots on the map with dots and placed small orange flags in the ground at each location. Each flag had a letter on it. The scouts were given the map, shown where our campsite was, and told to find the orange flags. Some were quite easy, near the road, but others were tougher. All scout teams had radios and kept in communication with the base station so w

I stick with the wording of the requirement and let the Scouts decide how to meet them. The requirement says identify or show evidence. Some scouts have asked to be able to identify by sight, like pointing out a type of animal and identifying the exact breed. Pictures are allowable, and I've had scouts bring a photo gallery in to show 10 different animals. And yes, Scat, tracks, sounds, even the smell of a skunk counts as I read the requirement!

Thanks for the additional comments. Yes, we need our committee more trained. Right now we have one person plus a couple other half of a persons -- not much of a committee yet. As for the food, indeed, the adults are eating completely separately. We bring our own food and utensils, and so far that area has been one where the scouts have learned the most. We eat different things all the time to show them examples of what can be done, and we show them how we ensure that we're not missing things when we get to the camp site. They don't quite get it, but they're getting closer!

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. As a note, the scouts are not at all bored. In fact, the one thing I love hearing, and I hear it nearly every week, is, "What? Its time to go already? But we just got started!" Of course, I will be the first to admit, the troop meetings are being planned by me. Its not so much that the scouts can't do it, they don't know what to do because they've never seen it before. I'm working on slowly moving towards them running a lot more. For example, the PL now has the troop meeting openings and is responsible for that every meeting. The game i

I read another post about sizes of patrols, but I can't find it now. Let me explain our troop's background before I ask the question: We have a new troop, almost a year old. As the SM, I do have a long-term view, hoping to expand, learning as we go, and not really get everything fully working for a number of years. At the start, we had just 5 scouts who came over from Cubs together. Since that time, we've added 4 more scouts. 1 is a year or two older than the rest, the others are all new. End result, we have about 9 scouts, almost all the same age. We have no older scouts. Right now,

I'm working with a very young troop (oldest scout is 12) with less than a year's experience. I'll admit, the troop isn't boy-led yet, but that's a 3-4-year goal for us. In the meantime, the adults (me) are doing most of the meeting planning, with input from the scouts. The scouts selected ideas/themes for the months last August. The way I'm doing merit badges is to occasionally introduce things that are parts of merit badges -- for example, we invited a public official for a 10-minute talk one meeting. Afterwords I mentioned that there was a requirement for the citizenship in the communit

To the original question, "What changes would have to be made?" I think the organization would have to find a lot of new leaders because our troop would start its own organization because we, and our chartered organization, want a Scouting program for boys, plain and simple. Perhaps we'd even start a new international program called "Scouting for Boys" that's focused on the outdoor program for boys (much like the American Heritage Girls has formed in opposition to the Girl Scouts).

Try getting a copy of the 1911 Boy Scout Handbook. I'm reading from it each night for my Scoutmaster Minute. I THINK they're starting to get it...

Huh. Powerpoint and official stuff. I'm new at this, with a new troop. The only youth training I have so far is when a new patrol leader is elected. I've just taken the modules from the Scoutmaster's handbook and basically pulled the new leader aside three meetings in a row and talked to him for about 5-10 minutes about one module per week. Maybe I'll need more when the troop expands a bit...

As you can see, our troop doesn't spend a lot of money. At least half of the troop's parents are unemployed at the moment. To keep campout costs down, we use troop funds (from fundraisers and generous donations from our CO) to pay for gas. We usually camp in national forests where there's no cost for the campsite. The only costs for the scouts are for the food. The grubmaster gets costs from the store and we divide it up -- its been as high as $10 per Scout when they've gone with expensive food, and as low as $4 when its a Saturday-Sunday campout (no Friday night).

If you have the uniform items, just take 'em to the paint shop and ask for paint in that color. They can match in seconds.

Wow. I feel a bit small... Dues: $0 Campouts: $6 per scout x 11/year = $66 Summer Camp: $200 (Usually offset by scholarships and popcorn sales by about $100-$150) Special Trips: $40-$80 (Whitewater, Climbing, etc.) Total out of pocket cost per year for scouts: Approx $125-$175.

Having just started a new Troop (March of this year), I've had nothing but a great relationship with the CO. Our CO is a church of the United Methodist variety, and the United Methodist Men's group has it in their charter that they support the Boy Scouts, so they were very excited that we were forming (again). Also, we work hard to keep up relations. After each court of honor, I am given a few minutes in the next church service to bring the boys up in front of the church where I very briefly mention all the awards that were given out at the last Court of Honor. I always take the time to t

Not having been on the planning committee, I'm not 100% sure how it was done. I'm pretty sure, from what I've heard, that the general theme was "Scouting Around the World." Then the scouts, divided up into groups, determined countries from around the world and games or competitions that could be applied to those countries. Some were basic, like Switzerland and First Aid, while others were more exotic, like Korea and some stick hitting game. We had the use of a grass runway, so the entire event was set up there. One end was the Northern Hemisphere, and the other was the Southern Hemisphere

Sorry to hear about so many disappointments this year. I'm going to throw a wet blanket on that party, if you don't mind. Our district had camporee about the same weekend. We had 20 troops there and over 500 people total. And my troop, with just three first-year scouts (two second class and one tenderfoot) actually got first place in the orienteering course, beating out 25 other patrols (yeah, I'm quite proud of them, I did not assist one bit). One of the keys, I think, to the success? It was well-promoted and completely, 100% planned and run by scouts. Every station had an adult the

Hello all! I'm Jeff, from Mooresville, NC. I'm a new scoutmaster with a new troop, working and trying to figure out which way is up. We formed a new troop in March of this year with a group of 5 graduating Webelos. We're trying to keep things going, but the lack of older scout leadership is quite noticeable! I was a Den Leader in Cub Scouts for 4 years and was in Scouting for about 8-10 years when a youth and earned the Eagle badge back in 1983 or so. But anyways, hello, good to read you.