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Some say "babysitter", others say "free of helicopters". By vicinity, I mean, if SM calls and says he's taking them to X hospital, they'll be there before the ambulance. (For that, med forms are useless. A roster with phone #s is the thing.)

You're not gonna get unified answer from this site. So here's my working definition: Activities are anything where if there is an emergency, medical info would not be available when professional personnel would need it as they begin to treat the youth. Meetings are not activities. If your parents are in the vicinity, then they will be the purveyors of info, not you. Needless to say, for eagle projects, it depends.

By way of duct tape: take the climbing merit badge book and break it down into meeting activites and cliff-side activities. If you really want to up the game, get a topo map and maybe satellite images and let the youth use it to identify where some workable cliffs and boulder fields might be in your area. Pick one that they could hike to in a morning (from a safe parking spot), and have them arrange a trip to it. Or maybe you have a training location in mind. Give the youth the GPS coordinates and have them draw up a plan to get there.

It's like my troop has an evil twin! ... with one small exception, which leads me to this off-the-wall suggestion .... Want a plan C? Have your CO consider starting a venturing crew (possibly as an extension of an existing high school youth ministry). Ask the boys: If they want the adventure to continue. If they have sisters and girlfriends who might want to hike and camp. If they think handguns and go-carts should be on the menu. If they want a gang to hang with on leave from school or military. If this flies (clearly you'd have to find adult advisors and committee members), dual-register the older boys in the crew. As the troop shrinks, send the youngn's to an active troop.

Well, there's a leap!

You just got your "man on the inside!" Have the SPL ask him if there are things that they do that you should be doing. This is a rare opportunity ... take advantage of it. If we didn't attract boys from other troops we wouldn't have a troop! (Our boys do the recruiting, and only their buddies, and only if they complain of not camping enough, not really being youth led, being too "military style", summer camp week conflicts with vacation ...) More often than not, those SM's are running decent programs, they just don't fit the boy's style.

Give it the number of adults who will be there on overnights! Be thankful that your crew isn't co-ed. It just gets hairier. (So much so, that I'm kind of relieved if young men and women just travel to location on their own.)

I get it. The SM has not been focused on skills retention. So, JG172 wants that to change, and he uses the boy as an example. That'll only get him so far. Like I said if a boy can't rattle off the meaning of an acronym, but he can tell me in his own words how someone should teach/learn a skill, he's okay in my book ... especially if one of his steps is "look it up in the book!" :0 The adults need to get their heads out of the sand and get on the same page with skills challenges. Or, accept that some skills don't matter.

Your son's standing would be unaffected. Your record is your responsibility to disclose on your application. The Charter Organization is responsible for approving adult applications. Discuss this with him or her when (or before) you turn it in.

I had a friend who does surveys help me with my first self-assessment. I gave him the description of crew advisor from the venturing leaders guide, and he and I boiled it down to some quick, yet to-the-point items. I can't find the original, but here are the categories. I think you can easily tweak to answer the questions about your unit: First there was an open ended question: What do You Like Best (about Mr. Q) Then there were checkbox questions (rate excellent, good, fair, not at all): Makes you feell welcome Encourages you to be a leader Is respectful toward you Listens to you Tells you when you are doing a good job Encourages you to participate in activities Makes sure outings and events are safe Takes time to reflect and review what you learned while doing activities Thanks you for helping Then it ended with an open-ended question What You think he Could Do Better

First heard it when Son #1 was finishing 8th grade. The school superintendent defined it as those who were getting the bulk of their education (secondary and beyond) in 21st century. She referenced an original book on the subject, but I never followed up and read it.

First and formost References. That would include contact info the council advancement committee and district advancement chairs. If you could invite any of them to drop by the class, it would be a big boost. Secondly, you want low tech and high tech solutions. So if you know how a troop handles each, two case studies would be good. If your council has best practices, you want to promote them. You might be the only training this person will attend, so your personal philosophy matters. If you believe (as I do) that advancement is best tracked first in a boys handbook, then he brings it from time to time to the Advancement chair to copy into the troop's record, say so sometime in the beginning, middle, and the end of your talk. If you think differently, open with "Unlike those whacky scouters in internet land ..."

Well, I never would have counted Scout Sunday as a troop activity, ever. It's doing what a reverent fella should routinely do, only with a different shirt and temporary change of venue. At the same time, if the boy took the time to write it down in his handbook, I wouldn't strike it. Requesting it for other boys? If they don't write it in their own handbook ... I probably wouldn't count it.

Details matter. If boys are already on a roster to do this stuff, and you have time to touch base to talk about it. Ask the PL assigned for this week, POLITELY, if he would be so kind as to add your one or two changes to the routine. Then after the meeting, ask the PL assigned to do it next week what he thought and let him know he's free to do it either way next week. If you don't have that roster, and your real agenda is establishing a boy led ethic, you need to slow down and add another step ... If you already delineated patrols, and the boys seem generally happy with them, start by having a talk with the SPL (in front of the boys) and giving him a roster (best if you draw it on the clipboard while talking) for which patrol will do opening and which will do closing for the next few weeks. Hand it to him and say "Thank you for adding this to tonight's agenda at the last minute. Forgive me for not talking to you about it earlier, I will try to do better next time. As you were ..." Then return to your seat at the back of the room. If the boys are unhappy with their patrols or think the patrol method stinks, then you have your work cut out for you. Don't touch the opening ceremony or any tradition until cracking that bigger nut! Start with some form of after action review "What do you like about our meetings? What don't you like? What's the one thing you think we should do differently?" Maybe put the "do differents" on separate cards and fave them vote on the most important one, gradually fold in how patrols might make accomplishing the "do differents" easier. My reasoning? People who are in the habit of someone putting their thumb down on them aren't trusting some new boss when he tells them "it's whatever they want to do." They need to experience someone treating them with dignity and respect. They need to see their ideas being worked into the grand scheme of things.

We don't pre-post, but our routine is post, pledge, oath and law. I guess if your boys have good pipes, each one could solo the national anthem on a different week! But seriously, one thing my SM did was have a "this week in American history" booklet, from which one of the boys would read a passage. That often led into his SM minute. Other troops have a pre-opening activity ... typically a 15 minute game. Then flags are a way to transition into something else. I think in that scenario, pre-posting may be a good idea. If you have several patrols, each one could take it in turn to set up the flags and perform the opening ceremony. Pick just one thing to fold in. Do it in a way that suits your style.

Oh, it was all related! I could almost quote Mamma on that. Her diatribes against promiscuity, abuse, and sodomy all wrapped into one big "I don't care how hot it is in the summer, put your shirt on when working the garden." (Or whatever I was doing ... or watching!) This wasn't just in the 80s. In the late 60's, my brother was yelled at by a German immigrant neighbor for immodesty when he was doing basically the same thing. It was the beginning of a larger culture clash, as the second wave of immigrants took a stand on what they saw as loosening "Anglo-Saxon" mores. (I also got a lot of "in the Old Country, they would have ..." speeches.)

In the church's "minute for mission", Son #2 gave his last report (as a boy scout) to the CO. This was a tradition that I started with the previous SM when we decided that we're the two adults who folks (the Almighty included) hear from aplenty. I'm looking forward to see which boy (or female venturer) will do it next year. My holy grail would be the cubs, scouts, and venturers pulling together some sort of skit for this "minute for mission" (or maybe a play for the sermon) , but that will take a special combination of youth. Regardless, our CO showed the boys a lot of love. Many of the older members took time to personally greet every scout. Oh, and venturers, happy anniversary!

Oldgain1 nailed it. When I was a scout (in a district of about 1/2 dozen units), the district leaders increasingly asked more of my opinion as I got older came back from Jambo, etc... Now with a district of maybe 5 times as many unites, there's this annual ritual where some seasoned scouter (who I respect for the effort he puts in) stands up and asks why there is such low enthusiasm for a camporee, I kinda feel sorry for him when I'm in the room because instead of the hemming and hawing about schedules and such, I ask, "How many SPLs did you ask to help you with advising you before you started planning this thing?"

Do you know any members of the socialist workers party? Sometimes a conversation with a person that really fits his profile will at least help him be more creative in his choice of derogatory comments.

Welcome to the forums. I feel your pain b/c we had a scout who had complete disdain for schoolwork and barely graduated last of his class. Nice guy, but is coming up through life in the school of hard knocks. His problem was a passion for cutting corners, doing the bare minimum, skirting boundaries. As a result, he was very involved in scouting but tried to shortchange requirements for Eagle Scout and did not achieve the one goal he admired as a youth. That failure was his first wake-up call. A few more such events, a wife, and a daughter was what it took for him to settle into a decent job. But he lost the trust of a lot of friends along the way. If your student is anything like that scout, backing off on one activity is not going to help his performance in another. However, if he has been managing time poorly -- regardless of if he is college material -- then he needs to straighten out. Another girl in my venturing crew is army bound, but almost lost that opportunity because of terrible grades. What she needed to do was stop social activities. Get MORE involved in venturing, girl scouts, and a job ... thus surrounding herself with people who did not find stupid to be cute. Bottom line: the diploma is money. And I think his scoutmaster would agree. To answer your questions ... There are no grade requirements to be in good standing in Boy Scouts; however, a scoutmaster can remove a boy from positions of responsibility, and excuse him from meetings if there's a problem at home. Taking a break for a couple of weeks from scouts to focus on academics would be a good idea. Scouts take breaks to focus on other things (sports, theater, church missions, family vacation) all the time. However, he can still be scouting. I refer you to the requirements for scholarship merit badge http://www.meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Scholarship. No trip is mandatory. Boys just love to go on them. Our scholar scouts sometimes bring homework to work on in the car and at campfires. Our athletes will wake before reveille and work out. Our thespians will practice their lines wile hiking. Obviously, if your student is overwhelmed, "fitting in" a couple of study hours will not be enough. I'll also add: From the scout law, a scout is ... courteous. He has no business back-talking his teachers. obedient. His teachers are boss, he should approach any assignment with gladness, because he is ... cheerful. This especially applies when life is tough. Any jackass will smile when there's no load to bear. [*]From the scout oath A boy is "on his honor" to "do his best" to keep himself "mentally awake." Note that I also have boys in school systems with chronic grade inflation, low expectations of students, etc ... never do we use that as an excuse a boy to shirk from gaining knowledge when it is offered c/o the taxpayer or his parents. My advice: When you talk to the parents, also ask them about video games, TV, and other distractions. If you can, talk to the scoutmaster about the situation. The boy's minister/youth pastor might be a good contact as well. Re-familiarize yourself with the scout oath and law (http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts.aspx). When he throws up attitude about teachers, etc ... Remind him of the relevant point, and say something like "I know you say this every week. It's time it actually meant something." Consider becoming a counselor for scholarship merit badge. It's not required for Eagle, so very few boys will ask your help with it, but a lot of boys should consider it. In fact some home-school scouts use the merit badge program as part of their curriculum, so it would serve your business to familiarize yourself with it. Good luck. Let us know how things work out!