scouterfly

I like the online training for two reasons.

One:I have been a Troop committee member for 7 years now and have never been able to take the official class as it was only offered once a year and always conflicted with something.

Two: If the trainee looks at all the links, then it would be safe to assume that each person viewing the training module will receive the same content. That is not to say that the live version does not, but it seems more consistant. You do lose the comradery and friendships that may arise from live training though. Someone posted that perhaps the live version should show the online training module and add discussion time. That sounds like a good idea too. Does anyone know anything about expiration dates on the on line training courses? The certificate does not list any, but I know that the live version of some training such as Safe Swim, listed an expiration date.

At a recent Life to Eagle seminar, I heard the question asked "Can family contribute to the project?" and the answer was no. Parent wanted to front the money for the project so that it could be done over the summer, and then in the fall the scout would hold fundraisers. Ultimately, the family $$$ contribution would be zero. It was still not allowed.

From what I understand, if a project requires a large amount of money for materials, say $1000-2000, and the scout needs to come up with the funds, he can conduct a fundraiser such as a carwash to come up with the money.

My question is: can the hours spent doing the fundraising count towards the recommended/suggested/hypothetical 100 hours minimum for the project? If the fundraising hours can count, is there a recommended percent that needs to be from doing the project vs. fundraising to help pay for the project.

Other related questions:Can a boy use money he earns at Burger King to help pay for the project? Can he collect money for a future project before he has a project plan?

To answer some of the questions that came up from Twocubdad, FuzzyBear, Hunt. This scout was a Webelos Crossover in Spring 2002. We have a very small troop (

A quick question. We have monthly BOR's. If a scout has completed multiple ranks, in this case, tenderfoot and second class, do you have one Board of Review for both ranks at the same sitting, or do you have him do one rank this month and then one at the next BOR? He is also close to completing 1st class, so this could be a triple. I always thought that each BOR was to be a separate opportunity for the scout to meet with the troop committee, and go through the BOR process.

I need a favor. A neighbor is interested in joining Boy Scouts. He is a 7th grader. I remember when we were "shopping" for troops, our Webelos leader gave us a guidelines sheet with questions to ask and things to look for in a troop. I can't seem to find anything like this on the web, and it has been several years since we used it and don't have a copy anymore. Can anyone steer me to something that can help this family?

Thanks

Our camping MBC is the SM, so it is hard to get around. Even if you went outside the troop to another MBC, the MB is not given till reviewed by the ASM or SM and then the blue card is signed by the unit leader. My son went to a camp last spring (run by our district advancement chairman) where he completed several MB's and has many partials, but until he shows the SM that he did everything, he has still not gotten the MB. I even sat down with my son and reviewed everything and what I was not satisfied that he did, I asked him to do it again. There were two in the safety/fire safety that I felt were not complete since you had to do a home survey. The survey was done at the place of the MB clinic, and I didn't think that was right. I guess I need something concrete to show to the troop committee chair who can then get this straight. What do you think I need to do to get the leadership on the right path with regards to the "correct" MB procedure/process?

Several questions on camping MB: One pertains to the "On any of these 20 nights, do two of the following: 1-Hike up a mountain gaining 2000 vertical feet; 2-Backpack for at least 4 miles; 3- Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or four hours; 4- Plan and carry out a float trip of four hours; 5- Rappel 30 feet or more

Do you need to pack and carry all your camping gear while on the float trip, the bike trip or hike or rapelling? Or can you base camp, set up gear and go on a side trip for the named activities?

Here's why I ask the question: Troop goes on a campout, spends night at point A-next day they drive to point B and go canoeing for the entire day and drive back to point A. MBC does not count this as one of the items since they did not carry gear and camp from the canoe.

BTW, troop did same canoe trip one year prior and camped out of canoe, but since blue card was not dated yet, that trip doesn't count. How can I convince MBC/SM that either or both of these trips satisfied the requirement, or am I wrong in my thinking. If you follow his logic then you need to rappel with all your camping gear, or bike with all your camping gear which sounds a little far fetched.

Does the troop leader ultimately have the last say as to whether a MB is completed since he signs completed blue cards, so even if the camping MB counselor allows nights of camping to count from date joined, the troop leader will override this if he knows that the scout could not have done the 20 nights since the blue card was issued.

Confused

This is quite an informative thread. I see that there are many interpretations of how merit badges are granted. Our summer camp had a printout for each scout that has all the MB's that they originally registered for. Some had comments like, "didn't show up for class" to "attended but did not earn requirements". The partials listed requirements that needed to be completed. The sheet was signed by the program director of the camp. The troop leaders sat down one day after summer camp and transcribed all these sheets onto Blue cards and listed the camp name as the MBC. There were obvious errors noted, such as hiking #5 take five 10 mile hikes on five different days. It was signed off and it was obviously an error, the boy did not do any hikes. Our troop will sit down with each boy to review the merit badges one by one to see if they have a clue as to what the MB was about and if it was completed.

This whole topic of merit badges has too many gray areas.

Now here's another related question. My troop only counts nights since the blue card was issued. Our district is offering a week long merit badge camp during spring break 2004. The district chairman is asking for the scout to submit verification that the scout has camped a minimum of 20 days and nights as a part of the application. There are other verifications that they are also asking for, such as completing any of the 30 day and 90 day requirements for those MB's that have them. When I asked the question in my original post regarding the date the blue card was issued, the reply was that as long as they camped for the 20 nights and only one week was summer camp, that was OK. What I wonder about now, is if a scout has 39 nights right now and will be attending 5 more campouts by April, can the troop leadership then not grant the scout the Camping merit badge since the troop has different interpretation of the requirements?

Camping Merit Badge Question

Do you start counting the nights of camping from the date that the boy joins the troop, or do you start counting from the date the blue card was issued?

Some local units that I have talked to say that they count from the date the boy joined the troop, other units only count from the date on the card. I would like to find out the "Correct" method.

Here's an example of where I am coming from with this question.

I have a boy in my troop who is 16 and just received his blue card for camping. He has well over 100 nights of camping 24 of which are summer camp. He only has 4 nights since the blue card was issued. He now has a job and cannot take days off very often and will never get to 20 days and therefore, will never get to Eagle.

Citizen in the World Question

The same type of question can be asked for the Cit in the World merit Badge. If a boy has been taking a foreign language in school for more than a year and now takes the Cit in the World merit badge, can the past year of foreign language be counted for the last requirement, (Study a foreign language for a year) even though it was before the date the blue card was issued?

Double Dipping question

Can a visit to the National Weather Station count for both Weather and Citizen in the Nation (tour a federal installation?

Can attending a city council meeting count for both Citizen in the Community and Communications (attend a town meeting)

Thanks for the help.