qwazse

Al, I think your program is good. Leaning on the boys to "hand down" skills needed for particular badges adds to the life of your troop. But, it's a good idea for you and the boys to figure out what MB's they'd like to learn about, but nobody in the group has any skills. Part of your program could be inviting an expert to come and discuss his/her hobby or occupation. That should increase the comfort of the boys in contacting the MBC. What if you're troop doesn't know someone for a badge the boys are interested in? That's what district round-tables are for! In total, merit badge education should be a district activity since there are too many badges for any one troop to promote. But obviously each troop will have to set their own level of district involvement.

-fish's definition is closest to my working definition. Except we've got these beautiful hills, so you don't necessarily have to be driving, you can stop on a spot, and if it's on a grade, you will be moving! Anyway, I redeemed the day by taking my dog for a hike through the snow with a scout parent and sharing my espresso with his family. I said to his son, "There's nothing sadder than seeing your backpack in your living room!"

"Beautiful snow here, treacherous ice and freezing rain there." -- so my campingless streak is extended once again. The SM and I spun our gears over this one up until just now. We decided to postpone pulling out last night. Our departure time was set just at the beginning of the advisory yesterday, and folks at camp said that the freezing rain did not start until well after we would have made it to our cabin. We could have gotten there and been stuck until tomorrow which would have suited us just fine. Now, it's a sheet of black ice for miles around camp and nothings moving. The adult in me says gotta respect our drivers. The kid in me is surly and ill-tempered. I was looking forward to throwing that espresso pot on the wood stove about now, but instead I shoveled snow (fighting the dog the whole way for the shovel) while son #1 cooked up some pancakes and a decent cup of coffee (fairly strong, and with none of the Missus' vanilla flavoring to stink up the whole place ). Guess I'll stay and work on my WB ticket, and try to stir up some youth to have some fun in this snow ...

So wether it be God, Buddha, Odin, Allah, Durga, or Zues.... I guess that's my hang-up. English speakers chose the term "God" to refer to the highest authority of any and all religion. Then Christians successfully pounded it into peoples' heads that this refers to a personal being with a Bible full of very specific traits. So what seems to me to be a perfectly serviceable word is getting tossed by the wayside. (Using SP's term, it's no longer the "mush" it used to be!) So, I go about telling my youth that part of their religious duty is to nurture their understanding of "God" by practicing and growing in their faith. That leads some to fill that container with Jehovah; others the Holy Trinity; others My Dahma; and so on ... This approach seems to help everyone get over the oath and be a little more open to one another's world views. But I'm working with older youth who are capable of that nuanced view. Plus, I haven't been confronted by a Buddhist scout or venturer on the matter. I've only heard cub parents bring it up. So, I'm trolling for an approach that works for them. So far, CambrigeSkip's seems to be the easiest.

I think that may become a personal policy from now on dealing with Eagles Candidates and Scouts asking for money.....I need to see a hard copy of their project budget BD, that's what I teach my 3rd-5th grade Sunday School Students about any church they decide to join. Forget statements of faith. To know if they believe in what you believe, ask to see their budget.

Also, I agree with K that you don't have to rule out the 16 y/o's as PLs. But if you have a 12 y.o. who has the right stuff, don't be afraid to put him at the front of the line-up. I'd say you only have to really split 'em when you have more than 14 who attend meetings regularly.

Our troop is in Choaman's situation, although not dwindling down to 7 anytime soon. But our crossovers aren't hanging in there. (One First-Class-First-Year kid just left us for video games!) See if a couple of the the boys in your troop can get permission to visit the middle school classroom to recruit boys. Set up a campsite on the lawn, demonstrate a fun skill you all like to do. Show pictures, etc ... Pass out flyers, take down names. IMHO, that's your best shot at getting a bunch at a time. As far as organizing patrols. Leave that up to the boys. If your boys seem to be all fairly good teachers, then don't even bother with an NSP. Once you see applications coming in, start the boys thinking about who would like to spin off the new/resurrected patrol. Identify your best natural leader among your younger boys and ask him if he wants be PL of a bunch of new recruits. That happened to me when I was a scout, and sure I had some challenges, but we had a barrel of fun!

rhol - sounds like you're a fast learner. On behalf of the boys you serve, thanks for all that effort in training. Now you have to clock time. That includes helping Mr. Jim be the best SM he can be both at home and Jambo. It's time to get back on the bandwagon and encourage him to keep talking about "his" opportunity. Every staff adult and youth I've talked to has had no regrets about going in that position. So pursue that. Especially if your son is counting on you to be in the vicinity. And brace yourself. It's not any easier as crew advisor. On many adventures I've had to defer to some other adult because ... 1. it was a co-ed crew and I was not an essential leader, 2. when I had $$, I didn't have the time to participate, 3. when I had time, I did not have the $$, and 4. there were enough qualified adults on the trail and one more would be a drag on the contingent. Consider this experience preparation for many disappointments on the way to adventure. Trust me, the youth in your future will need to overcome let-downs like these. A degree in The School of Hard Knocks counts for a lot more than WB or EDGE.

This from a friend-of-a-friend ... I just brought my son to his first Wolf den neighborhood meeting in Cub Scouts. I noticed how "God" is in the Boy Scouts Promise that is recited before every meeting and asked if my son could be a member as a Buddhist. I guess scouting is my new arena for Kosen-rufu! I've stated my personal approach before. (That "God" in its linguistic roots was never specific to any deity, let alone a Judeo-Christian one.) But, clearly when we have a parent who wants to avoid any confusion (either in his son's mind or the minds of his fellow scouts) that doesn't wash too well. Besides, any advice I give is from "outside the tent" and with the goal of keeping a boy in the program. So, seasoned Buddhist scout-parents, how did you handle this? Did you help scout-son choose a different, less "laden" term? Did you help him be able to explain that his use of the word, for the sake of expediting the oath, might mean something different than what the other boys are thinking. Did you let it slide, figuring "duty to God" translates into "duty to the Universal Buddha Nature" without much explanation. How did this work out as your boy grew? What helped? What didn't? If ya'll are nice I'll share this link with the parent who raised the question.

That text comes from the "An adjective describing Venturing:" What do you think the default should be instead of favorable adjective?

Finally started to put together some parts of my Woodbadge ticket. One was a youth-led recruiting effort that involved enabling youth to make a script for a classroom presentation. I put together a Google gadget that does that: http://sites.google.com/site/venturingcrew321/recruiting Let me know if you use it either by posting here or filling out the survey (link at the bottom of the above page).

A natural leader either pulls teams together. Sometimes you need to correct "where" they're pulling them, but mostly you need to set them up so that boys know there's something worth imitating there. And that's probably the best thing you can do for the kids who have to learn to be leaders. Keep them in the company of others who are a few paces down the trail. Then when you have a moment to reflect with those kids, you can toss out the managment theory question such as "What do you think makes __ such a good SPL/PL/QM? Do you think you could be like that?" Whatever you do, please don't make them go to a class on the subject!

Ad hoc Patrols are a good thing. I'm with K on this one. If a self-selecting group of boys wants to go on an adventure, they don't have to be reorganized into their own patrol to accomplish that. Nor do they have to drag the unwilling in their respective patrols along. They do have to communicate with their respective patrols so that everyone knows whose showing up for dinner and who might be out on a conditioning hike/paddle/whatever until nightfall. I too, don't use the word "elite", because most of the "long walkers" are the farthest thing imaginable from "high brow". They don't see themselves as anything special, they just seem to have found a spot on the map that attracts them, and they will do whatever it takes to get there. Often these boys will put in extra time to make sure the troop is in order while they are off doing their thing -- a real servant mentality. The old term "Leadership Corps" applies best to this group. But in a troop as large as yours, you can have several groups like this. Regardless, a good Patrol Method is more about accountability and communication than it is about set numbers of perfectly suited groups of individuals.

IMK: not bashing. Just pointing out to RP that his adults are employing a method that is foreign to Boy Scouts. If you're forming your troops into small groups and the girls are scheduling camputs every month, purchasing their own grub, packing vehicles on their own, and doing their own cooking and cleaning, then you're one peculiar GS leader. If more moms had that sort of vision for their girls, recruiting for my crew would be so much harder because the only unique thing we have to offer is a rag-tag bunch of boys!

Kudos to the CO for keeping their families so engaged! I've said it elsewhere, but NSP's should only last 5 months max. By the time summer rolls around, the PLs should select members from the NSP's to offset their losses from the previous year. This makes that "dwindle and merge" process a scheduled event. How activities are coordinated should be up to the PLC and adult leaders. But certain activities (backpacking along a single trail, for example) are ill-suited for a dozen patrols in the same weekend. Never experienced having to manage events with as many patrols as you have, but for about half the size, I pick an area with multiple loop trails, and have each group come up with a hike plan.

I few years back our council was loaded with "non-traditional" crews (mainly youth groups who signed on to take advantage of the unit insurance and little else). We purged the roles. If that drop in numbers kept our SE from leaving, hooray! He's a good egg.

The Girl Scout Troop method! Works wonderfully, except the boys don't LEARN anything! Aside from all of the leadership and planning stuff, they don't learn how to cook neatly. Why don't you have the adults clean up for the boys for a change? I know why! Because no adult wants to deal with the mess that a couple of boys will make in your campbox! Tell the SPL to make adjustments. Either put the boys in ad-hoc patrols or keep them separate. The general advantages and disadvantages of each have been discussed in other threads. But here are a couple of scenarios related to chow: A patrol of 1 is not a big deal for cooking. You might need to coach a tenderfoot a little on planning and making a meal and explain the situation to his folks so they can help him a little. Kids who are picky eaters sometimes find this to be a great opportunity! Or, if the Spartan patrol finds out that the grub-master for the Epicurean is on his own for the weekend, they might recruit him ad-hoc for his skills before the Stoic patrol finds out that the the troop's gourmet chef in the wind! Of course it can pan out dozen's of ways. Regardless, you gain so much more by letting the boys sort it out and moving the adults to an advisory capacity.

MT: We're still trying to figure out the implications of this Venturing District. But it maps with "facts on the ground." Venturers aren't as geographically locked as Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. They make tight associations with youth on the opposite ends of council (and area, region, nation, and world) and seek out activities in and provide service to districts other than their own. They have this proclivity to venture beyond district boundaries (go figure). We're just trying to tap that and make it work more smoothly for the unit leaders (who still are more than welcome to go to their local district roundtable if it suits them). Who knows if this will be the case if the price of gas keeps climbing. But the point is our COR is as proud of the kid in our crew who becomes a volunteer fireman in our neighborhood as he is of the kid who works at an orphanage overseas. He just doesn't want to be obliged to another roundtable. (I'm not even sure if he's gone to a the pack and troop's district roundtable.) He certainly doesn't want to fret over herding cubs into our troop when there are plenty of young men in our community who weren't cubs who deserve our invitation.

I think we can thank a bunch of folks who wanted to learn from repeated wrongdoing. (Indirectly I guess we can thank God for church fathers who centuries earlier insisted that the Roman permissiveness regarding sex with boys should not be part of anybody's culture.) YP puts us all on the same page, so without my SM having to ask awkwardly, my son and I will stick around until the last boy's parent comes and picks him up. It changes the culture. Is it enough to protect every boy from predation? No. But it certainly gives the Joe Pa's of the world a decisive course of action when predation occurs on their watch.

Sounds like it is someone from your district with a specific agenda. You'll have to find them and ask where they got their idea from. In our council, all of the venturing crews are in their own district, which would make things even more complicated for our COR if he was to stay on top of everything that was going on.

That's it Scout and Pack, I'm turning y'all in to your respective COR's for unseemly internet innuendo!

I know there are parents who are bitter when the pack doesn't automatically feed its members into our troop. So much wasted hot air. There are parents who are bitter when the crew and troop do work together. ("You're ruining the patrol method!" "Little Johnny is isn't ready for girls yet!") And there are those who are upset that I don't "automatically" multiple any eligible boys to the crew. Meanwhile our charter organization is simply thrilled that all these youth are coming through the building! The youth are happy. They're happy. I doubt the COR is going to sweat the details.

Can you find a volunteer to give them a gps lesson and get them started on a geocache challenge? I set up a challenge on the grounds of our camp that kept some ventureres half the morning and half the afternoon. (They actually made and hid their own caches and had to exchange coordinates and try to find each other's hides. Model rocket kits are also a reasonable thing to do. Especially if someone had a launcher. They could build them in the morning and launch them for the cubs in the afternoon. Anyway, you get the idea. Instead of money, maybe an investment of an adults time might give them a skill that they would enjoy and be entertaining to the cubs as well.

Owl pellets are cool. no argument there. Four off the top of my head ... Meteor showers. Glowing embers. Fish jumping. Whippoorwill calls. Never experienced as an 11 year old, but when I learned how to snorkel watching life scuttle about on a coral reef, or on the bottom of a freshwater lake.

I hear ya E. The family just got me one of these too. Dolphin web browser is probably the most useful free app I've grabbed so far.