Beagle Scout

One of the activities our pack does is a hike in a local natural area followed by a watermelon seed spitting contest. The watermelon makes a nice refreshment after the hike, and everyone has a lot of fun seeing who can spit the seeds the farthest. We give out ribbons for the top three Scouts. There is also a contest for the adults, but only for bragging rights.

The last three years, our pack has worked with our local government conservation organization on suitable projects to participate in. Last spring, we helped plant 1000 trees as a windbreak around a local cemetery. In past years, we have planted 1100 trees along a creek to help prevent erosion and have cleared brush around a lake. Each of these projects was well within the capabilities of even the youngest Wolf, and we've even had Tigers help out, even though they could not earn the WCA.

We use the school gymnasium for our B&G banquet. It is free of charge for us to use on any day that school is in session, subject to being first to reserve it. This year our banquet is on a Wednesday night to avoid conflict with basketball (our pack meetings are normally on the last Tuesday of the month). The last several years we have done potluck dinners and have not charged anything, but we have had problems with running out of food, so this year we are going to try having a buffet-style meal catered by a local restaurant. There will be a charge for dinner, but we have not figur

I am just finishing this book now. It is a good story, and I'm going to have my Webelos 2 son read it when I am done.

I have been using Evrsoft First Page 2006 which may be downloaded for free at www.evrsoft.com.

Here's what Snopes has to say about The Golden Compass: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Here in the Inland Northwest Council (eastern Washington and northern Idaho), Cub Scout residient camp was $120 for 4 days 3 nights and $90 for 3 days 2 nights, compared to $215 for a week of Boy Scout camp.

How about a good juggling act?

Wow, building a trail sounds more like a Boy Scout Eagle project than a Wolf conservation project to me. The last three years, our pack has worked with our local government conservation organization on suitable projects to participate in. This past spring, we helped plant 1000 trees as a windbreak around a local cemetery. In past years, we have planted 1100 trees along a creek to help prevent erosion and have cleared brush around a lake. Each of these projects was well within the capabilities of even the youngest Wolf, and we've even had Tigers help out, even though they could not earn

Tigers, Wolves, and Bears get credit for electives completed while working on rank. However, the yellow elective beads (Tigers) or arrow points (Wolves and Bears) are not awarded until after rank is earned.

I have been using the Trax spreadsheets for four years and like them a lot. I believe they do almost everything that you describe your program can do. True, the additional awards (WCA, OAA, LNT, etc.) have been removed from the rank-specific spreadsheets and moved to a new, separate spreadsheet, but it was not much trouble to add them back in to the rank-specific spreadsheets. I am always looking for a better way to do things, so I would check out your program if it was free, but I would not pay to replace something that is already working for me (a Scout is Thrifty).

Our pack has been very successful increasing our sales the past few years (from $2900 in 2004 to $23K last year). Here's what we do: 1. Our council offers Show and Deliver, and we take full advantage of it. The council allows us to pre-order all the popcorn we expect to sell, and there is no risk because we can return whatever we can't sell (we do not have to return full cases). The Scouts go door-to-door and are able to give customers their popcorn immediately, saving time-consuming return trips. Studies suggest that this form of sales is twice as effective as Show and Sells in fron

Absolutley, our Tigers sell popcorn. In fact, many of them are top sellers. I attribute this to our pack signing them up during spring recruitment so they can fully participate in the pack's summer program. When the popcorn sale comes around in October, the new families have a good idea what sort of fun activities they can expect the pack to provide if they support the sale. Also, the little guys are too cute to say "No" too!

I believe Tandy Leather Factory gives a discount to Scouters--at least our local store does.

The Inland Northwest Council has offered Trailblazer Day for the past four years. The first two years, there were two weekends, one at Camp Cowles and one at Camp Easton. The last two years they added a third weekend nearer to Camp Grizzly. The events are normally planned for consecutive weekends in October, so it is a great draw to get new Scouts to camp within a couple weeks of joining in the fall. The council even offers half price registration for new Scouts ($7.50 as opposed to the regular $15). There is also an option for camping out the night before the activities for an ex

Here's an outline of the Scout's Own I put together for our first-ever pack campout last summer: 1. Invocation - An American Indian Call to Worship 2. Opening Song - Kum Ba Yah 3. What is a Scout's Own? - Short (2-3 minutes) talk touching on the following items: a. Reflect on star hike and any wildlife moments from camp. b. Isnt it nice to get out of town, spend time in the woods, and reconnect with nature? c. Reminds me of how wonderful this world is that God created, and it makes me feel good to be part of it. d. Robert Baden-Powell, the founder

I'll second Rod Stewart's "Forever Young"--that's what I'll be using for this year's Wolf den slide show. Last year I used "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story for the Tiger den slide show. It was my goal to make the mom's cry, and I was not disappointed!

You can also contact your local government conservation organization. Ours has organized suitable projects for our pack to participate in for the last three years. We just did one last weekend, helping plant 1000 trees as a windbreak around a local cemetery. In past years, we have planted 1100 trees along a creek to help prevent erosion and have cleared brush around a lake. Each of these projects was well within the capabilities of even the youngest Wolf, and we've even had Tigers help out, even though they could not earn the WCA.

We don't annual fees other than the $10 registration that goes to National. Scouts are responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and books. Everything else is paid for out of the popcorn profits as described above. We have not always had as much success with the popcorn sale. Four years ago, we only sold $2900, but each year since we have increased our sales to the point we are at now. Even back then, we did not have annual fees. We just tailor our program to the funds available to us. Obviously, the families have seen how much more fun they can have when the pack has more money

I admit I don't know much about troop finances, but I don't understand how a pack can build up a treasury of several thousand dollars. The pack my sons are in sells a lot of popcorn, but it is our committee's philosophy that all the proceeds should be spent on the boys in the year it is earned. Last year the pack sold $23,000 of popcorn, adding almost $8000 to our account. The pack immediately gave $2500 back to the boys in popcorn sale incentives including summer camp registrations. The rest pays for things like leader registrations, leader training, Boy's Life subscriptions, pinewood der

Looking at it another way, here is a list of all the Webelos activity pins showing which belt loops and pins they are associated with and whether they are optional or required: Physical Skills Group --------------------- Aquanaut - Swimming BL (optional) Athlete - Physical Fitness PIN (optional) Fitness - N/A Sportsman - 2 BLs for individual sports (required), 2 BLs for team sports (required) - Individual sports include Badminton, Bicycling, Bowling, Fishing, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Skating, Marbles, Physical Fitness, Roller Skating, Snow Ski and Board Sports, Swimming, Table Te

Here is a complete list of belt loops and pins showing which Webelos activity pins they are associated with and whether they are optional or required: Academics --------- Art BL - Artist (optional) Astronomy BL - Scientist (optional) Chess BL - Scholar (optional) Citizenship BL - Citizen (required) Collecting BL - N/A Communicating BL - Communicator (optional) Computers BL - Communicator (optional) Geography BL - Traveler (optional) Geology BL - Geologist (optional) Heritages BL - Family Member (optional) Language and Culture BL - Scholar (optional) Map and Comp

SctDad, I was not trying to say that only Webelos can earn belt loops. I was just trying to point out that the only belt loop that cannot be used toward a Webelos activity pin is Collecting. Also, Archery and BB Gun Shooting are not specifically listed as counting toward the Sportsman pin, but our pack gives credit for them. In our pack, we do not discourage boys from earning belt loops and pins, but we do not push them, either. When I plan out the meetings for my den for the year, I select one academic belt loop and one sports belt loop to work on as a den so that we can use those ex

If I'm not mistaken, every belt loop can be used to satisfy a requirement for one of the Webelos activity pins except for the Collecting belt loop (assuming that Archery and BB Gun Shooting can be counted toward the Sportsman activity pin).

Plans for lanterns exactly as described, with the Scouting fleur-de-lis, can be found in last month's Baloo's Bugle: http://usscouts.org/bbugle/bb0801/bb_bg.asp My Wolf den just finished making some dragon table decorations in our den meeting last night based on the design found here: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/egg_box_chinese_dragon.htm I think they turned out pretty good, but I am curious to know more about pixiewife's dragons.