Loki

Bought mine on ebay for $25 and drilled it myself using the instructions from the Wood Badge site. It works but I am no virtuoso on the kudu.

I am told the proper method of playing a kudu is the same as a bugle. Having said that, I'll stick to the guitar.

Thanks Eamonn

Had the leaderlore link as my standby but was hoping there was something else out there. Definitely will have staff explain the origins of their respective totems. Also, putting together a sheet with the staff totems and will make it a "Who Am I?" game.

L

As a TG I had primary responsibility to review, approve and follow up on participant tickets. Having said that, I made it a practice to discuss modifications or changes with the ASM and CD prior to approving.

L

This is referenced in the new Staff Guide but nowhere to be found. Anyone seen such a document or have a custom one they can share? Prior courses in our Council seem to have only presented samples.

Thanks.

L

I used to be a BEAVER...

Understand this to be a more outdoor specific application of the skills from Wood Badge. Sort of a NAYLE-lite for us oldsters.

Thanks infoscouter. This link will help the project I'm working on.

Does such a creature exist?

Being cheap, sorry THRIFTY, I created a spreadsheet to track adult training levels in our unit. There are tabs for Basic, Leader Specific, Supplemental and Advanced. Also added a worksheet listing the merit badge counselors within the unit.

Our Council uses a Training certificate listing the various training courses and issue these to volunteers upon completion of the first training taken. Volunteers are asked to bring these to successive trainig to be initialed by the instructor. Sort of a perpeptual record. Volunteers in our unit show me their cert and I update the record accordingly. If there is any question then I contact the district training chair for confirmation.

$250 in our Council for at least the last three years. Same materials as other have listed. Our challenge though is in the last two years there has been a dramtic increase in the use of Camperships to pay for the course. One wonders if the higher fee is supplementing the Council campership account.

Thank you for your comments. Beavah's response reflects my own personal thoughts. A couple of the nagging concerns I have though is when the custom policies go beyond what National requires of the youth, potential for items outside of the Guide to Safe Scouting or changes to the purpose of a Scout run troop.

Mahalo

Sorry if this has been hashed out previously. Tried to search through past topics. Ok, now for some background: A year ago our family moved and transferred into a new unit within the same Council and District. On the surface, this troop seemed to be extremely well organized and my wife and I were familiar with a few of the volunteers from our District roles. The troop is what I term a mega unit with 60 or more scouts registered. A waiting list exists to join the troop and there is no interest in breaking into smaller units. "Recruitment" was from a sole feeder pack, also a mega unit. They are also "Self Chartered". Through the years, a number of custom unit policies have been created that create additional requirements and actions for youth advancement. Also, functions such as outing planning are "assigned" to adult volunteers to coordinate and report back to the parent's committee. With the exception of menu selection and food purchase the youth are not part of the planning process.

Our first response was to question who had been to training. Of the sixty plus registered adults there was one stressesed out leader who attended Woodbadge/21st and one who had been to SM Specific/OLT. The balance only had Youth Protection. One or two had taken Supplemental Backpack Leader Training but there is no interest in promoting adult leadership training. In fact, raising the question was taken as an insult to some.

Secondly, I openly questioned why the youth were not activily planning their events. The response was "They are not capable" which raised my blood pressure up several points. The committee insists on having constant reporting and a close out report, all on spreadsheets.

Third I asked how many adults had been to Roundtable and was told the unit only sends one representative. "Nobody else needs to go".

So, I am looking for input/ideas on how to increase the committee's awareness of BSA policy versus their custom version. Or, tell me I am over reacting. Before anyone suggests contacting the unit commissioner I tried that. Unfortunately no commissioner is assigned currently.

Thanks.

OGO

Yeah, I''ve found a few of the animal friendly finished horns which is fine. The link shows a shofar with the mouthpiece on the end, but I''m curious if those folks can drill one out to the "BP/Wood Badge" configuration. Thanks for the link.

Bumping this up. Still looking for a source for pre-drilled kudu horns. Spiritsigns appears to have gone offline and the quartermaster store only sells blank horns. The shofars I have seen are drilled on the tip and not along the length.

I should have clarified...I'm not looking for a used Kudo and would have edited the topic title if I could figure out how. My understanding is a shofar is drilled on the end/tip of the horn whereas a proper Kudo has the mouthpiece drilled along the length a few inches up from the tip.

BTW...the rule regarding not sharing Kudos came from National and was communicated at last year's Area Conferences.

Cell phones and other electronics on outings for emergency use...absolutely.

For entertainment? No.

If your scouts are so attached to their electronic leashes then consider having a "High Tech" event followed by a low tech outing to contrast the two.

And if they really need to send a message...teach them semaphore or morse.

Well sort of. Just got tapped to serve as SPL in 08 and want to get started on the most challenging and daunting of tasks anyone on staff can face...playing the kudo. Anyone know of any sweet deals out there?

Congratulations on your beading and welcome to Troop 1! Show your totem and wear your beads proudly.

Know any other Scouters that could benefit from Woodbadge? nudge nudge

WE4-33-04

...and a good old beaver too!

Our solution to this was first we sought out BALOO training only to find it in high demand but rarely offerred. On top of that, our District at the time didn't have a training chair or committee (long story that one!). So our Cubmaster and two other adults found training in another area and we then volunteered to be the District training crew. For the Pack, we insisted on two BALOO trained adults minimum for each campout and because we were the training staff had the phone numbers of other trained adults we could call on in our District.

Personally, I would insist your Training Chair schedule BALOO yearly and follow up with the Dist Chair and even OA Advisor. If there is push back such as "We can't get enough interest" then offer to help promote it. Suggest the TC use Cub Breakouts at Roundtable to promote the course. Just my $0.02.

L

Hey All,

"One World One Promise" I've heard two different opinions on this. 1) Above the right side pocket flap, and 2) On the right pocket. Anyone have a definitive answer? Same placement for youth? I understand there will be rockers available as well and given the size I'm not sure it would fit on the pocket.

Thanks!

L

"I used to be a Beaver..."

Hey All

I recently accepted the role of District Camping Chair and am looking for ideas others have used for annual awards from the District to recognize units that been active in camping, hiking/backpacking etc. Way back in my youth the troops in our District were very motivated to earn the coveted "Dusty Boot" by hiking more miles per scout than any other unit. Would such an award resonate today?

Trevorum

Another option is the Los Angeles Area Council's "Log Cabin Wilderness" camp in the Sierra Nevada. You should be able link at: www.boyscoutsla.org

Aye, lots of options out there Wishboat. Take heed says I. Best fill yer sea bag with knowledge of crewing before signing on with just any scalawag.

Depending on your location you might be able to arrange an introductory cruise or even a charter on Sea Scout boat. In So Cal we have access to Sea Scout Bases in Long Beach, Newport, and San Diego. (Aye, the Argus out of Newport made national news last year with the rescue of a marooned diver off Catalina Island). For general sail charter info on a family friendly site, check out the message forums and skill sessions at: www.sailnet.com Another youth organization you might investigate for a charter is Top Sail.

Fair winds and a following sea.

Lok

Hey all

Our District has been using a customized Camporee package for several years now and frankly many leaders and Scouts have commented/complained that the only difference has been the title and patch design. Our current Camporee Committee has decided to start anew so I've been trying to locate a copy of the booklet published by National on planning Camporees or some similar guides. Three of the local Councils do not have it in stock and in fact two of them were not aware there was such a publication. So, I'm curious what other Districts use for planning.

Any guidance you good folks can provide would be appreciated.

Lok

Our Troop has the Yodas, Wilson (think Castaway) and for the adults the Kahuna Patrols