MollieDuke

All around Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg are historic trails associated with the local council. They are nice trails and are historically based. We got the info on them as we are down there a lot. There is an active archaeology dig at Jamestown, which can be used as part of the archaeology MB as I remember, too. If you go, though, take the Jamestown Explorer cruise. It's a boat trip out onto the James River to see the local area and the Eagles that nest on the Island. It's a great trip!!! We've taken it twice and it was superb both times. You see eagles in the wild, other

I am considering getting into geocaching with my son on a fairly small scale. You know, we go on vacation, and get the cache coords before we go and try to find the cache or more likely---look locally on a Sunday afternoon. I know about geocaching.com and it seems simple enough, although, I am not really willing to spend megabucks on such an infrequent hobby. If it turns into a real hobby, I can upgrade. Anyone out there use GPS and have a basic opinion? I am considering Magellan eXplorist 100 or 300 (100 mostly due to $$$), and Garmin eTrex Venture. Right now, I'm considering

I had this problem, sort of, in the pack I used to be CC of several years ago. We had a boy whose parents came to us and said they wanted to sign their boy up, however, he was ADHD with violence. They said they never left their son alone and he had a special "helper" with him at school. They were in the process of trying to find help for their son, and seemed like they were good with him. We made the provision that one of them had to be with him at all times, and he was admitted to the Pack. We had a few little things happen, fixed immediately by the parents of the boy. Eventually, he to

I think it's all about marketing. Just like everything else, our youth are very visually stimulated (video games, TV, DVDs, etc.) I also think the best example of marketing for youth is the Mountain Dew commercials. They are high adventure, cool, edgy, and fun. If you market Venturing like this, you'd have lots of kids. If you market it like BSA, you won't have much, I don't believe. BSA just isn't "cool" enough for everyone, but Mountain Dew certainly is........... Our crew is hobby specific, so we got our youth around that, but my son's friends are always wanting to do more

I was put in charge of helping a Scout Troop type and print a guide sort of like "So you're new here------well, here's some helpful advice" type stuff for new parents/boys. Aside from the actual Troop policies, phone lists, merit badge counselor's lists, and all that........what do you wish someone had told you up front? What would you include that might not be "customary/usual/obvious"? So far, I'm typing: phone lists, discipline/substance policy, MBs available with local counselors, uniform guidelines, meeting place/time, SM/ASM contacts, advancement guidelines, fundraising policie

How do you preserve those really large or odd shaped patches you get over time from events, etc that are too large to fit in the baseball sleeve type of patch holder? My son currentlly uses a large ziplock bag, but it's not acid free, so I'm wondering if something in a scrapbook variety might be better. Any good ideas out there? Thanks, Mollie

Looking through some photographs, I saw an "instructor" patch. (just the patch--not on anyone). I read a little about it and I wanted to know what the qualifications of this are? Example: if a boy is good at first aid, what would qualify him as "instructor" status? Just wanting to know as I've never seen one. THanks, MD

Thank you ScoutNut for the pointer on the Ranger. I had that confused in my head.....trying to relate it to Boy Scouts, I guess. It's so easy to try to relate it to what you already know, isn't it? :-) MollieD

We have a new crew that my family advises. It's been hard on my husband to leave the Boy Scout mentality behind and do Venturing. I think I finally "got it" the other day and I just wanted to spin off the previous thread about the oddities of Venturing to display my idea of what I think it can/cannot be and see if I'm on the right track. If not, please let me know as I'm very new to all this, too. 1. Venturing is about the journey---not the destination. I don't mean this literally as in traveling to a climbing wall, but more figuratively......example: it's about teaching kids to loo

My son will use a plastic storage bag (ie for storing out of season clothing) with all the air sucked out also, but it's because his first year of summer camp came with the worst rainstorm in the history of the county since the 1920s. Everything in camp was soaked including the clothes in their tents. They evacuated to the dining hall, but even with the pack's raincover, the clothes were wet. This was my son's solution to wet clothing, but it's also good for nasty smelly dirty clothes for the ride home. I can get out one plastic bag and dump it into the washer instead of a totally smelly b

I'd like to see anyone after second class look over one of the original books and choose an activity they have never seen in the current book, submit it for approval, then teach it back to a patrol. The old books have lots of great stuff in them, but most boys never see them. The books from B-P days are great reading for my son.

We are actually having a training weekend this sumemr after we get all the kids out of school. We plan to have fire safety/building, hiking and foot/boot care, cooking, tentage, etc. We plan to go in on Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. We are a new crew with at least 3 kids that are not former scouts and will be getting a couple more after school is out. We want to get some leadership going full tilt then too. Our scouts can certainly teach the non scouts and brush up themselves.

I am posting this for a friend who has no computer. He just became the Committee Chair for a really small pack. It will likely grow from here on out (long story), but they basically have just been doing "their own thing" for awhile now and some of it isn't even scouting correct. Several of the requirements in the past years weren't done, yet the boys are wearing the badges. Yes, it's complicated. Basically, this group lost a lot of leaders and untrained parents were trying to keep it together, and now it's a little messed up. Even with training from last year, it's still messed up. How

My question is this: Pants----I've heard they are poor quality. Is this true? Do they hold true to size? If not, how are they different. Do they fit women differently than men? Are they really grey????? IF so, are they like "security uniform" type grey? I've obviously never seen them. Our crew will not be using the crew uniform as they have a crew specific uniform, but occasionally I could use one to wear to scouting functions. I've just heard stories.....you know? Thanks for the help. MollieD

I'm trying to get my mind around this. Since many boys that are "Eagle age" are into Venture Crews as well, can being active in a Venture Crew count for the "active" for Eagle Palms as long as the boy is still earning his merit badges? What if the Venture Crew is not of the same group as his Troop? I'd like to think the boy would stay in his Troop, but if he is very busy as most kids are into every sport/academic thing coming and going, it might come up. Thanks. MollieD

I agree that PW derby is the highlight time for most boys. That's why I want to do this well. I want the most participation/ease of racing I can get and hope that most boys go home happy and having had a good time. That said, I also think we need to realize there are "winners/losers" and that's reality. I don't think, though, that just because a car isn't fast enough to win the speed race that it couldn't win a "best paint job" title. I think that also shows that the car is an entire being----style/paint/design/etc. It's the whole enchilada. This seems like the best way to encourag

I asked my son again how he prepares for a BOR, and he told me he goes over all the requirements that have been signed off, checks his paperwork, reviews what he did and all that. When I asked him how he knew to do that, he said, he had heard an adult tell a boy this and it made sense to him. I guess that's why he never "froze" plus he is not at all nervous talking with an adult or group of adults. After asking him all this, he asked me why was I asking. I told him that this was merely a topic on this board (not that I started it) and he said that maybe they should put that into a program

What about having a movie night with the adults and show "Follow Me Boys" with Fred MacMurray. It's a great entertainment film which shows each boy in a cooperative environment. Several of our friends have watched it since I've gotten it and we've asked them to "find their son" in the film. It's been interesting. Several people have watched it and said "wow, I wish our troop was like that." If nothing else, it would be a nice night out and a change. :-) MollieD

I love beasties mom's thought of the unlimited race. I think I'm certainly going to include that one next year. That would be really fun. Do you have to get a fundraising form to do this from the council? I also agree on a basal level with OGE, because I think we water down competition with our youth in this country even to the point that when we grow up and compete for jobs or promotions, we have no life skills to do that because it was such a "level playing field" for us as kids. However, this year we've had a lot of problems with complaints about rigging this past race to the point

I spun this off my "questions" thread--sorry for so many questions. I just want maximum fun for the boys and families...... I've seen packs that do a design category like: most unusual design, most unlike a car, etc. I assume these cars race as well, but do you do any of these and if so, which are the favorites at your place? Do you encourage the boys to think outside the box to design an unusual car if they wish? MollieD

I just got Follow Me Boys off amazon.com on DVD. It's a wonderful movie, although, we all sat around and said who we thought was who and then that we wished we had a troop like that. I love it. My son (life scout) loved it too. The only part I didn't like was seeing Whitey "rescue" a boy that had fallen over a cliff without getting their adult leader. The adult didn't hike with the boys that day like they should have. I think I only paid like $10 for it.

I LOVE this info. I think this would "eliminate" the problems I've seen in the past. I especially like the fact that each boy races the entire time. I hate to see the boys leave early. It also eliminates the competitiveness I've seen which certainly doesn't embody scout spirit at times. Keep any help coming. I love it so far. Thanks for the links, too. SUPER! MollieD

Recently, I was on a BOR where a scout was asked this question: "What was your favorite part of the XXX merit badge you did for Star? It had been signed off very recently, so he should have been able to answer this question, I thought. Anyhow, this scout said he couldn't remember much about this badge and hedged this question. I'm rather new to this BOR stuff, so I left it up to the others although there was quite a discussion over it. The basic feeling was that since it was signed off, and we cannot retest, we had to let it go. Being a "good mommy" I went home and asked my son if he's

I may be in charge of PW derby next year and I don't understand the whole "elimination" thing. Also, I've seen most derby's done in double elimination and occasionally triple elimination. Now, I don't really understand these terms, but it's just what I was told. Is there a website or published material that explains these things so I could copy/print it and keep it with the rules books? I know I can get someone to actually "do it" at the event, but I know there are other parents out there that don't really get it and this may help them on race day. Also, do you do double elim. or triple e

After much tugging and pulling and begging and crying........Our New CREW is up and ready to run. I had previously asked for and received much wonderful advice and just wanted to send a heartfelt THANK YOU to all those on this board that helped us through the quagmire we were put into during charter. I still think our locals made it more difficult than it really is, but it's done and a lot of credit goes to you all... Thanks again, MollieD