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bbender

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Everything posted by bbender

  1. I hadn't done the socks as snowballs (nor considered them G2SS-prohibited explosive devices!!), but several times I've told the Scouts, in all seriousness, that we're going to very very carefully do "origami" paper folding to create winter decorations to hang on trees, and then I very very seriously describe how they need to take the five pieces of paper that they are being handed and that they need to very very carefully fold and bend those sheets - just so - to create this round image of which I don't describe. I say, OK, make them, keep them with you, right at your place. We'll collec
  2. Echoing and expanding on AKdenleader, assuming that your Tigers have the participation of "adult partners", between that Parent Participation and the facts that (1) Tiger isn't that hard to complete, and (2) they are actually pretty easy to lead since they like to have fun and do stuff and haven't become cynical like third graders, Den Leader of a Tiger Den should be a pretty easy job. (No, I know that in the real world not every Tiger has an Adult Partner participate every time just as in the real world your Den of 8 Wolf Scouts might need more than DL plus ADL because they didn't magically
  3. "they'll learn how to use an axe, saw and hatchet!" ====> Yeah, and then when they do that as first year Boy Scouts, then tell them that when they go to Philmont, they'll learn to throw a tomahawk!! One of the amusing things I've experienced in doing this with Cubs is that there will (a) always be someone who talks about how experienced he is with a knife on account of experience with his dad or whatever, and (b) always be someone who is really nervous and shakey when opening and closing the pocketknife. The amusing part: often it is the same person who was talking about all his
  4. There is also the Shavings and Chips Den Meeting Plan at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/bear/BearSupplementalMeetingB.pdf Has a fill in the blank test handout too.
  5. Key thing is to check with your den leader to see how the Den will operate (will they follow the meeting plans, will they alter and do things in a different way). While of course BSA would want you to buy the book, note that you can get it all on line. Here's a link to the Wolf Plans: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/DenLeaderResources/DenandPackMeetingResourceGuide/WolfDenPlans.aspx If they are following the Guide, you can see there what they will do. Of course, from time to time, something may not get done in the meeting, and so the Den Leader may need
  6. Let's see if these will link up: Tiger: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/Tiger/TigerLetterTemplate.pdf Wolf: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/Wolf.pdf Bear: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/bear/BearLetterTemplate.pdf Web I: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/webelos/WebelosLetterTemplate.pdf Web II: www.scouting.org/filestore/cubscouts/doc/arrowoflight.doc Found that last one as a Word doc through Google.
  7. And there is a letter/email template here (scroll down): www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/DenLeaderResources.aspx (sorry, can't make this one hot link) Now, somewhere on the www.scouting.org site they were supposed to post these in Word (so that as a "template" they could be, uh, copied and . . . used), but for the life of me I cannot find where those landed. -- I fear that they were pulled. -- If you can locate those, please post! Of course, with a decent adobe viewer you can copy text out of the pdf and edit away to fit what you're doing. These le
  8. I'm not aware of any list yet floating round in the internets, though from time to time there have been postings about items that well, uh, aren't as well coordinated as they could be (and I've seen some of those myself). -- Of course, the standard for drafting Cub Scout stuff is "Do Your Best", right? ;^) I do suspect that once this wave of training is over and the Fall Camp O Ree is done, I'm going to try to do a thorough sweep of sites like these for commentary and do a full review of the Guide to help locate those sorts of things, as well as possible improvements. -- I'm sort
  9. While we don't have a fancy name like SWAT team (and I fear we might scare some people if we used that term -- we already have to make it clear in School Talks that the uniform doesn't mean that we're police or immigration!), here's what we're doing in terms of training tailored to local units: Internally, we're calling it a "live and local" phase of Cub Leader Training, by asking units when they reorganize if they can all gather their interested parents and potential leaders, and we'll do a streamlined training/intro there, to give them what they need. The idea follows the "all Scouting
  10. Camping, camping, camping. Yep, that's the ticket. A few years back, we started (in addition to Webelos Encampment in the summer), a tradition that Friday night of the Pack October Campout is "Webelos First Night". The concept is that the Webelos come out Friday, and really dig into some camping/cooking skills "by themselves", and the rest of the Pack (usually less experienced campers) come Saturday AM, and the Webelos greet them at our campsite and help them set up, and start teaching the younger ones. -- FYI we don't actually turn away other campers from Webelos First Night (tho
  11. Actually, hopefully they took it down to fix a glitch . . . the Bear on line course had this really random note when it explained advancement about which items were "required", and the selections were . . . well, really really random. I assume they need to take it down to fix it.
  12. On the question "When did they divide CSDL Specific leader into individual Wolf and Bear components? At that level, both groups are virtually identical", the answers are: -- Only in the On Line CSLPST at www.myscouting.org is there a separate track for training Wolf and Bear Den Leaders (and for Tiger and Webelos too). -- In the "live" syllabus, there is a combined Den Leader training for part of the Den Leader training, and then separate modules for Tiger, Wolf/Bear, and Webelos that cover some more common stuff (advancement background, record keeping, field trips, den leader secr
  13. On the topic of transition from adult-led to youth-led and getting Boys and Parents ready for Boy Scout Troops and the Patrol Method, let me copy the first part of an email from the cub-l listserv that we use in our "info" section about crossing over into a Troop: " Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:09:15 -0500 From: Lorie McGraw Subject: crossing over and boring Boy Scouts (was Boy Scout Lists) Hello, I have been watching this discussion with some trepidation and finally just had to join in. First of all, let me confess that my name is Lorie and I am a Scoutaholoc (Hi, Lorie!)
  14. Yeah, Fitness is boring as written, and the concept that "Fitness conjures up the idea of sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, etc." is one reason to go down that path and do Fitness with a dose of Athlete (which has those elements). Here's a meeting plan that does that: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/CubScoutMeetingGuide/webelos/WebelosMeeting1.pdf
  15. If I am tracking my Den's achievements, I would likely use one of the existing advancement spreadsheets out there, like the ones you can pull from these sites: http://trax.boy-scouts.net/cubtrax.htm http://madsenco.com/scouting.shtml As noted, you have to enter "boy by boy" anyway, since not every Scout attends every meeting. Plus, because the science of meeting plans is not perfect, it is possible/likely that even if you "follow" a specific meeting plan, you might not get it all done (that day) or you might add something else in, plus you can adjust the sequence as you proceed
  16. On the question of "does he really need to complete an adult application", the answer appears to be: yes. The Youth Application has a box you check with a note that says "Mark here if the adult partner is not living at the same address; complete and attach an adult application." -- Sadly, there is no "Tiger Cub Adult Partner" code for the Adult App. -- So I assume you'd put the "code" as "??" and write in "Tiger Cub Adult Partner", maybe with a note that this is the supplement to the Youth App for Jimmy Tiger. That said, my understanding is that if an adult would be rejected as
  17. On the two questions, I'll comment a bit: First, on Eagle92's note about "why is BnG such a big deal for advancement? Growing up, we got advancement every month in that pack, and last year advancement was given every month with my son's pack", a few comments: 1) If/when someone earns a rank before Blue & Gold, there is no reason on G*d's green earth not to recognize them early at the Pack Meeting after they earn it. Or, frankly, also at the Den Meeting too. And at a school assembly. It's all good. 2) That said, it is fair to say that in many (not all, but many) Packs the Blue
  18. One other idea for consideration in Pack Planning is: if your dens aim to complete Rank Advancement by the Blue & Gold Banquet, think carefully about when you really "need" to hold your Blue & Gold Banquet. The reason I note this is that for Wolves and Bears (and any Packs that take most of September to form and get on track), there is pressure to get it done by February and some Dens and Families stress about it, either now while planning, or in January/February when trying to get it done "in time". It doesn't have to be that way. Here's a "Keep it Simple, Make it Fun
  19. A short Den Trip? The Guide to Safe Scouting says probably not required. Technically, because the actual policy on local tour permits isn't absolute, and has lots of Council by Council variation, the only hard and fast rule is that a local Tour Permit is required for trips under 500 miles except for when a Tour Permit is not required. Yes, that is confusing, but accurate because of the many exceptions. For example, note that the Guide to Safe Scouting (sort of) specifically says "Most short, in-town den trips of a few hours do not require a tour permit; however, it is recommended t
  20. Live training twice a year . . . oh my. So many questions, so little time. Well, we just got done with our second District Training in two weeks . . . this one my first one after seeing the on line resource, and the first one in response to our "takin' it to the streets" offer of "Training: On Line, Live and Local". Our Training: On Line, Live and Local concept is: if a handful of parents in a Pack want training and have a time and a place that can work for us, we're bringing it to the people. So on Thursday a Pack's message was: we've got a bunch of new dens forming and some l
  21. SSScout: haven't done the "herb tea and crullers" yet. For us, it's Chicken Biscuits and Coffee, then we have our assigned Pack Activity Coordinators (from our Training Class "Pack Jobs" sign in sheet . . . everybody gets a job!) set out the sandwiches and fruit for lunch. I sure don't think that a solo Balloon Stomp Battle Royale in front of your PC is going to be as much fun as with a bunch of other adult nut cases "playing the game". Moosetracker: yep, I think as a result of this, a lot of "basic" training for those who don't dive deep into the program will be done on line. At the
  22. As to why there is both Wolf and Bear den leader training now, I suspect that once one goes the route of separate training for separate rank roles, the logic of "joining" those two has diminished, especially as Tiger has become more like Wolf. There may be as much in common between Wolf and Tiger (e.g., you do all of the 5 or 12 acheivements at your level) as there is between Wolf and Bear (where all of a sudden you have to pick and choose what requirements to do from a bunch of categories). -- It used to be that Tiger was much different, with different uniform, meeting plan, motto, et
  23. I'm hoping that this year will be the year that we can have a "Camping crossover ceremony", where the Webelos crossing over bring their Backpacks to a Friday night Blue & Gold Banquet, set them up near the "crossover bridge", and once they get their final awards and complete the crossover ceremony, they and the Boy Scouts put on their packs and hike on out to the Troop Campout . . . see ya!
  24. Yeah, neither the Web I / Web II or "Web Den" / "AoL Den" terminology works with the LDS birthday rotation: there, as far as I can tell, you are a Webelos Den and you'll rotate in and out and the Webelos Badge and Arrow of Light would be covered in that 12 month period, no matter when you join (and, I suspect, one might earn the two simulaneously if that's, say, how Fitness or Citizen line up in the program, assuming one didn't accelerate it for an individual). And there are "Webelos Dens" that spring up in 5th Grade, and do some of what would be "Web I" or "Web Den" activities, followed
  25. As to the concept that: "only complaint so far is that you have to repeat the Intro ... with each module" and "True ... but I just clicked through the pages until I did all three 'quizzes' ... it went pretty fast that way", I suspect that this is related somewhat to how this, compared to the full Syllabus, is a bit more condensed in most (but not all) places, both literally, and by virtue of the fact that as a pre-packaged speech you'll not have a Trainer saying "let me flesh that point out for you because it is important or because you ought to know what this Council's resources are", and you
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