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qwazse

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Everything posted by qwazse

  1. Wow, Stosh! Lesser deities miht be insulted by your proclamation!
  2. Not necessarily a violation, but certainly a YPT failure
  3. And that's why registration fees keep climbing. We all are getting more pathetically dependent on pros for everything. Way to go entitlement generation!
  4. Those of us in PA are willing to bet a divinsion I college football program that a 2nd adult does nothing to prevent lawers from tearing you apart for thinking that somehow that will prevent a skilled predator from grooming. Get your head out of the sand and think about safety. Real safety. Boys are safer with a buddy.
  5. Oh, for the love of Akela .... Don't anybody dare call national and ask them for a rule! Like BD said, it's a pin that gets swept off the floor at a pack meeting if it's not stashed in a box in the kid's sock drawer! The JTE metrics make no mention of pins. It doesn't even mention summertime activities. Give the Webelos Tiger Pins and the Wolfs Webelos pins and see how it changes the color of the ribbon on the pack flag or the knot on their uniform 10 years from now ... IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. What matters is that the kids have active summers and feel proud about it.
  6. I'm not too bothered about data mining. Anyone who thinks that's not happening with shared google documents or Facebook events is Internet naive.
  7. Another evil twin! Thanks for coming out of the woodwork.
  8. Why? Because the likelihood of any further risk minimization with that second adult is very very small, possibly to the point of being unproven. One can imagine scenarios where risk increases with that 2nd adult. This is offset against program being denied to otherwise competent junior high and high school boys. One vital aspect of that program is teaching a boy how to safely interact with adult resources. Teaching a boy that he and a buddy cannot contact an adult in the absence of another adult undermines that aspect of the program. I'm in favor of keeping monsters at bay. I'm not in favor of chasing ghosts.
  9. Sorry, I've found some of the program issues, like hashing out the difference between teach a topic and counseling an MB to be more engaging and relevant to the time of year. If I think of something that someone may take with them to the next campfire, I'll chime in. But until then, like Pack said .... Ding dong diddly um day.
  10. I'd call him a bear from the beginning of summer. Your erstwhile tigers would get the wolf STA. I'm sure some folks here would say the opposite.
  11. Those frames are above the boy's pay grade! But, talk your budget over with your parents, and discuss what their goals are wih their boys. They might just be up for the challenge. Our daughter was cub age when my wife and I took up stain glass as a hobby. That drained our wallet, but my wife made some spectacular pieces, and Son #1 and my daughter did some really nice work as well. I made one piece that proudly hung in a coffe shop for a while until I gave it to a friend. It could have turned into a real occupation for us if we needed it to. So $80 for supplies, and my family gets a chance to make some creative stuff instead of credit card bills from the design store? I might just bite!
  12. If members in your troop are jittery about an arrangement, there's nothing in the G2SS that will change that. You're not gonna find a "No 1-on-2 contact" rule, but on the other hand there is no "1-on-2 contact's just fine" rule either. It's very rare that two kids manage to maintain a false accusation (as in the worst-case scenario that Stosh describes), but if you have adults who fear that very scenario there's no amount of writing the world that's gonna make that fear go away. You're stuck. Work with your people. Hopefully they won't cramp your style to the detriment of the boys.
  13. Scouts don't like to repeat the subject they like the least. Unfortunately, that's usually the skill that needs repeating. I have boy scouts who keep forgetting their flag protocol. They complain. We ignore them. Make them do it until they achieve flawless execution. Every patrol has to be its stand-alone color guard by the end of the year.
  14. Websters English Dictionary probably has most of these terms. Sure you could have the troop acquire a couple of pamphlets for the library, but sometimes it's good to see what you can learn from multiple sources. One really good source (for me) used to be Boy's Life in the 80's! Plus, there are these things called libraries. But, this is what separates real MBC's from summer camp hacks. After years doing a hobby they've acquired a variety of resources that may help for some students more than others. You need to get out of :"knock out requirements" mode. And, if the last group teaches you something you already know, are they "really" teaching? How about this instead: after all the boys have demonstrated that they know the basics, why not schedule a night with some cub scouts or girl scouts to introduce them to the game?
  15. Plus, some venturers are leadership course junkies. Now, I'll agree that this is a lousy reason to take WB. But for some folks it's reason enough.
  16. This is where den chiefs have their largest impact. Also, boys from the troop help adjudicate the pinewood derby.
  17. Thanks! Gives those boys interested in Programming MB something to chew on!
  18. At the NR4 Venturing Officers Association Summit they set up a LAN party a few years ago.
  19. BTW, I really like your idea of splitting the boys into smaller groups. Give each group a reference book (specific to chess -- or a dictionary ... I just found en passant in Websters) and assign them a couple of things to look up. 10 minutes later, have each group present the definitions they found to everyone else. If there's a good way to demonstrate these things, that's a help. So, challenge the group to think of a creative way to present each item. You can correct any rough edges as you go along. Does your meeting place have a floor the checkered linoleum tiles? You get where I'm going with this, right?
  20. S99, you know it's more complicated than that. E441's troop is expecting a cradle-to-blue-card program. What will their reaction be if he comes to the first meeting saying "These guys on the internet told me y'all are gaming the system!"? Even if he pulls out the GTA and rattles off section 7, they'll treat him a lot like they did Moses the first time off the mountain top! E. just tell the SM you think a good MBC will want to go over the requirements with the boys anyway. But, you'd like the troop scribe to keep track of the attendance, and then for each boy list his attendance record matched with the nights where you covered particular skills/terms. He can show that to an official MBC and it's between the two of them how much gets rehashed. My bottom line: a good group instructor wants to maximize time learning and minimize time record-keeping.
  21. What Tim said. Yours is actually the ideal situation IMHO. Unless the second adult actually adds something to the instruction (e.g. a fellow climbing instructor), he/she can be more of a distraction. And like Son #2 said to me "You can put up with nearly anything, no matter how boring, if you have a friend with you!"
  22. Grand though it may be, it's still not attuned to youth-led units, especially venturing, I need registered YOUTH to perform these functions! 1. President and VP-Admin manage the organization. 2. VP Program fills out tour plans. All I do is read and sign. 3. VP Communication maintains address list and sends targeted messages 3. Historian tracks awards and recognition. 4. Treasurer places orders for advancements and arrange for payments. Until I can assign youth to have "first-line" access, and their respective adult "shadow" to get notifications as YOUTH perform these functions, you're wasting my time.
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