MattR

I agree with CalicoPenn that the rules are for those without common sense. Summer camps used to fire off a cannon with a blank to wake everyone up, until some fool decided to stand right in front of the cannon and the wad killed him. One solution to this, that the BSA implemented, is to ban all cannons. Another would be to implement some training. The first is easy and the second takes some effort. If that's all there is to it then the first is the obvious choice. But I think there's more to this. There's talk about philosophy of hazing or shooting at a human likeness. There's even a phil

I use algebra all the time. I would have used calculus or relativity theory as better examples. But your point is still valid. It creates an environment where the real learning happens.

Welcome to the forum, @CanyonCowboy.

Call the Longs Peak Council or Denver Area Council and see what they have. I know Longs Peak runs something similar to Philmont. They don't have as many activities but they have better mountains. It's called Elk Horn. The Denver Area Council has something called Camp Tahosa. If you drive out I-80 you'll go right by both of them. Just don't take I 76.

I spent the past couple of days with some scouts from Israel. They do things very differently than we do and some of it is very impressive. Here's my understanding of their program. Scouting in Israel goes from 4th grade through 12th grade. There is only one program. So no cubs, just scouts. It's essentially our webelos and scouts combined. The scouts I talked to said that scouts is very popular in Israel. There are very few adults involved. My impression is it's somewhat like the venturing model where the adults are advisors at best but mostly take care of support. Note that the ven

Hi and welcome to the forum, @seaoat. Your post is a testimony to what scouting is about.

I suspect the toilet paper does not shred. I once heard of putting the flour in socks and it just works its way through the sock, leaving a white spot on the person that was hit. But there's only one way to figure this out!

What is the purpose of playing in mud?

Don't over think this. After 4 weeks the camp staff wanted to go to a dance. The other issues are mistakes that should be brought up with the council. It sounds like they had a new camp director that didn't have much experience. Or maybe they just wanted to mix things up and it flopped. Maybe the underlying issue is a low salary for those in charge and they're getting people that just don't get it.

2011 http://www.gazette.net/stories/05182011/olnenew201953_32535.php 2015 https://issuu.com/thegazette/docs/rockville_052015

yes. I had 30 years between ordeal and brotherhood. I did brotherhood with my son. There were no records so they just had to believe me.

One step further: skip the paper and just put it over a burner for about a minute, then remove it so the ash doesn't fall into the burner. It still takes 20 minutes. Put aluminum foil on the ground if there is any moisture in it. Any water will put the coals out. If it's at all windy we put our DOs in fire barrels. I modify the dia +/- 3 for cake-ish things. It needs much more top heat. Rim the lid with briquettes plus 2 or 3 in the middle. Only put 7 or 8 underneath. Now I'm hungry.

Remember, these are the parents of the scouts in your troop. Reason has no place at the table. 3 weeks before it's due I'd start setting up lap tops at meetings and reiterating the consequences. If you talk about it every week from now till then you will just condition them to ignore you. So, be prepared for the ensuing chaos 😀

Could be a bit of work but: there's a map with cities, train tracks, major roads, and rivers. Between each city and along each road, train, and river there is also a time it takes to get from city to city along that method of travel. Now the fun part. Break the scouts into teams and give all the teams a place where they start and a couple of cities where a treasure is to be found. Their goals is to find a quick route from start to collect each treasure. So take the road to city X, then take a train to city Y, then grab the treasure, then take the boat to city Z and get the second treasure

Especially if it's wicked cold I'll change to clean and dry clothes for bed. Sure, it sucks for a minute while you change but it's much warmer than sleeping in damp clothes.

I wish the SM minute idea applied to merit badges (other than safety issues). You have one minute to discuss careers. One minute to discuss the food pyramid. That's all they'll listen to anyway. Safety is different. Besides, all you have to do is talk about how you can die doing something stupid and they'll pay attention. Good point. If merit badge books came with examples of ideas of these kinds of things then that would be a profound change. First of all, scouts would actually read the books! If the scout planning books did the same thing it would also help. I like coming up with ide

More doing seems to be a common thread. And yet, the BSA is filling up on requirements the boys just don't care about. By boy behavior do you mean roughhousing? Or is it more than that? I've seen that they can't elucidate on any conflict. Their emotions take over and then the talking stops. It could be good for problem solving that needs to get done right now but they need lots of practice at dealing with people problems. And many parents just won't let them deal with those problems. Does the BSA do a better job than at schools? So is the BSA encouraging any of this? Class

Or maybe it's a generation of girls that never went outdoors when they were young and just don't like dirt. I know plenty of women my age that did a lot of camping and canoeing when they were younger but those that are 15 years younger didn't do nearly as much.

@cocomax, do you want this as a new thread? You'll likely need a couple of women if they're not related to any of the girls.

How about a discussion regarding what boys need more of as opposed to what they need less of (i.e., girls). The threads about girls are mostly stuck on boys need less girls around. That's a negative. What are the things the boys need more of? What is it in the BSA program that helps boys? And please don't say boys need there to be no girls. I'll start. One thing I read is that boys learn much better when doing things then, say, sitting in a class where they need to pay attention. So, all the describe, discuss, and explain in MBs are a huge waste for most boys. The boys need more opportun

Time to be proactive and ask those that run the EBORs. At the same time have the scout document specifically what he's done for leadership. It would be a lot better to address this issue now than wait until the EBOR. We've seen a lot of messed up scenarios on this forum. There shouldn't be any extra rules but ....

And from us they get all y'all. I once made fun of someone that said y'all and I was corrected: English doesn't contain a second person plural pronoun. However, we can blame those on the other side of the pond, so it's all good . I did need an explanation of the difference between y'all and all y'all. I don't know of any language that distinguishes between a few and a bunch, so I think they're just messing with us.

The scouts love jokes like that. It's just spice to aid their imaginations.

It depends on the temps. "coffee is a block of ice" only means it got below freezing. How cold is cold? We can easily get below 0 and the lowest I've seen is -20. Others have seen colder. That said: I have a Coleman 4 season tent I got half off. It does a good job in the wind and shedding snow. I put a lot of effort into insulation on the bottom of the tent. A wool blanket on the bottom of the tent and padding with plenty of insulation. I currently use one or two thick closed cell foam pads with an insulated thermarest on top. I used to have a big agnes 3" insulated pad, which was gr

You can take just about any outdoor skill and wrap it up to be any type of event. Pioneering to make a catapult. Map and compass to save the prince and princess. Start a fire to "boil pots of oil" (don't really boil oil, though). Knots to storm a castle. It's all about imagination.