KenDavis500

 Why not meet a hour before the meeting?

Time for the Scouts to prepare for the 'skills instruction' or to contact someone who will help them.

Time to gather necessary equipment & consumables for the skills instruction and interpatrol activity.

Once a month (normally a Saturday or Sunday afternoon) for about a hour to plan the Troop meetings for the upcoming month.  SPL runs this.  I get ~5min at the end for basic leadership thoughts.

After every Troop meeting (<5min), to review/discuss any issues from current Troop meeting and to make sure they're ready for the next meeting (supplies, who's doing what).  SPL runs this.  I normally say nothing.  

I can no longer see individual topics.  I can see the main page and sub forums but when I click on an individual topic - nothing.  This is using a Windows 7 laptop with Chrome.

Screen shot attached.

I tried on my tablet and received "internal server error".  

What does your Troop do with leftover food after a campout?  I'm talking like bread, syrup, coffee, etc.

This is a test of the new forum software.  This is only a test.    

Our small Troop is growing. We rechartered 5 Scouts and have been actively recruiting. Sunday was the District Cross-over. I knew of 2 WebII's that were coming to us but we ended up with 3. #3 made the decision based on #2. They are all 3 friends and came from the same Pack.

What recent success story do you have to share?

This is from the United Methodist Men page - " 15-Passenger Van Safety is big news these days.

Because of the safety risks involved, federal law prohibits the sale of 15-passenger vans for the school-related transport of high school age and younger students.

Many states have passed regulations limiting the use of these vans.

Many institutions have already set deadlines for discontinuing the use of 15-passenger vans.

The nation's leading insurer of churches has stated that "15-passenger vans are inherently unsafe as currently used by many owners." They highly encourage "all organizations to strongly consider other transportation options."

Wow. This group never agrees on anything.

I disagree!

One of the six Scouts is submitting an advancement report/request to credit six Scouts with an activity. Apparently, these six dressed up in Class A and attended their home church.

 

Sounds like they're asking for "activity credit" for the Scout Sunday patch.

Question - does your Council/District/Unit have criteria for the Scout Sunday patch? As far as I can tell, there is no standard.

Does your Troop have an Eagle Advisor? Why or why not?

I find many references online to individual Troop's Eagle Advisor but nothing from National.

Time to search for another Troop or start your own.

I'll say it again. Time to search for a new Troop. Yes, it's easier said than done, but it is definitely doable.

Recommend to the Committee Chair that ALL Committee members get training for Board of Reviews. Our District Advancement Chair gave ours.

Andysmom - I'm confused. You said you were one of the 4 on the board, but you don't know the reason the Scout was asked to come back?

For me, the Court of Honor is to honor the Scouts. I do use it to explain to some parents a little bit of Scouting as these parents only see "Scouting" at the CoH.

I recently had our new DE ask when our CoH was. When I told him the date, he immediately asked if he could present Friends of Scouting. Nope, Court of Honor is about the Scouts. I will arrange a parent meeting at a later time for FoS.

We successfully had our 1st CoH tonight!

A few things I need to work on in the future:

- maybe provide a back story to one or more Scout's rank / merit badge journey

- during my Scoutmaster Moment, the Scouts and I sit in a circle on the floor. It was brought to my attention that the parents felt excluded. They were surprised when I told them they were excluded. Maybe excuse the parents/guests while during the SM Moment.

Short answer - it depends.

It depends on the merit badge and/or the counselor. Some merit badges (example: Camping) allow work on the badge before the discussion with the MBC. In the case of Camping, it's the camping nights. Most merit badges will tell you to perform/demonstrate/etc AFTER a discussion with the MBC.

By the way, you CAN be both a Scoutmaster and a Merit Badge Counselor.

1. Find the appropriate passages in the Guide to Advancement.

2. CALMLY discuss this with the Committee Chair in a private setting.

3. IF the CC continues to uphold the SM's decision in spite of the GtA:

3a. Calmly discuss with the District Advancement Chair

3b. Start search for new Troop.

Thanks guys. I contacted our DE this afternoon to try and determine the state of affairs between the local ISD and the BSA. He had no clue. So I found the principal's contact info for the two schools and emailed. We shall see.

Did he have a favorite camp chair/stool/walking stick? Or something along those lines? Maybe ask the family if the Troop could have that item to sit around the campfire while the Scouts remember him.

Has anyone recently recruited in public schools?

I've got a small Troop with an elementary school in the neighborhood. I researching how to contact the 5th grade boy population for either take home flyers or a presentation.

Things we've done:

1. Stay cool campout - normally held in August. Camp near a cold spring for swimming; build hammocks from a twin size bed sheet to sleep in on Saturday night.

2. First aid campout - goes along with the First Aid theme; patrols hikes in the morning and an ASM will "injure" a Scout. The Patrol performs first aid actions

3. Camp & Shoot - local gun club shuts down for the weekend and hosts Troops.

4. Canoeing/camping on a lake

5. Canoeing/camping on a river (scheduled)

6. Wilderness survival

7. Orienteering campout - neighboring council has a yearly event; this year our district is putting one on in conjunction with the local orienteering club

8. Astronomy campout - heading out to West Texas (scheduled) to camp at a state park and visiting the McDonald Observatory

My biggest question for the Scouts would be have they learned from the experience? Everyone makes mistakes. The magnitude of each mistake varies but hopefully a Scout will learn from their mistake and become a better person because of it.

No need to replace them. The effort to complete the rank requirements for Tenderfoot - 1st Class can all be measured. Maybe beef up the requirements from Tenderfoot to 1st Class and get rid of the "First Class, First Year" nonsense.

Here's a link to the original requirements for First Class.