Sephrina

We just started this with those interested in our Webelos den. We are meeting Sunday afternoons. We are not affliated with a church, but working with the church one of the families attend. The pizza theme seems to be a hit. Did have one boy try to compare Jesus with a zombie however for the first lesson. Quickly explained Jesus was resurrected, not re-animated like a zombie.

Used at our Webelos meeting tonight. The boys got it faster than the dl

The outdoor cooking is still in both the Wolf and Bear books. In fact, we have it planned for our next den meeting. We are going to bake cookies in a dutch oven and we bbq'd kabobs last year as a Wolf den.

Karen

Thanks Snow White for the info on Scouttrack. I was wondering about that as a couple of the boys in my den are getting close to completing two of the sections.

I can't even imagine trying to get my son to complete all of the achievements and electives, let alone trying to get the whole den to do it and there's no way I would try.

Karen

Here's the cub scout myths I was told in my son's first pack

You need to wait for all the boys in the den to earn bobcat or rank before presenting it

and a leader had to retest the boys on the bobcat requirements (that one kept one boy from earning his bobcat for a year)

Karen

It is possible an adult other than the Baloo trained adult attending the camp is the one organizing it. Our pack asks for the families to step up to plan events including our spring campout.(granted it was pretty laid back and unscheduled) We had a number of Baloo trained leaders attend, but they were not the ones to put all the plans together.

Karen

Our pack's CC is at my son's den meetings only because it is at her home. She may provide snack, take pictures, help out if the leader or myself is unavailable, and keep the parents entertained away from the boys, but otherwise the meetings are left to the leader (her husband) and myself. I have yet to see our cubmaster at one of our den meetings.

The prior pack we were involved with wanted all the dens to meet at the same time so the CC and CM could be available every meeting and that pack was a disaster.

Karen

If you don't mind bathroom humor

Have all the boys in a circle passing around a propane bottle for a camp stove. After they have passed it around a few times, walk up and ask what they are doing....their response "passing gas"

Karen

At our pack fall campout/outdoor skills clinic we did the following with a late Saturday afternoon arrival at the site

Saturday night

family potluck bbq

fishing belt loop - requirements 1 and 2, (did not complete 3 as the lake was too low)

campfire - dens, families, leaders and individual boys participated in the program with songs, jokes, and skits. Everyone is asked to prepare ahead of time and find something on their own. This was followed by a flag retirement ceremony

Sunday

breakfast on your own as we waited for the 10am start time for the families that did not participate in the campout to arrive for the outdoor clinic

divided the boys into groups assigning a Webelos as leader of each group. The boys came up with a group name and yell, and went over the bobcat requirements until we were officially ready to start

knife training for all but Tigers - basically covered the Bear achievement for all eligble boys to earn their whittling chip (our pack allows the wolves to participate but not earn their whittling chip) We had four stations and each group rotated through the stations for the activity

Hike to geocache as one group

Lunch on your own

Map and Compass belt loop and pin - again four stations to cover the requirements,

Knots - four stations covered square knot, coiling rope, and two other knots that I did not master or now remember, but again I believe they were listed in at least one handbook

Fire Building 101 - we were going to do this in stations, but were running short on time, so it was covered as a group, followed by a fire building contest for each group (with adult supervision)

To fully cover the activities we did, we probably needed two days as some of the stations were rushed. I would be more inclined to run each activity concurrently instead of dividing them into four different sections and rotate groups through the activities.

The boys kept themselves busy making up games, playing capture the flag, and light wars during any free time without too many issues.

Suggestions for next year included adding a religious ceremony for Sunday morning, outdoor cooking, and first aid.

This was the first year it was done as a campout and the event was very successful.

I would suggest you let the new cc take over, but request the old cc be available mentor the new cc as necessary.

Karen

My entire pack just started using scouttrack to track achievements and awards, but uses our website to list events etc. We are using Scoutlander for our website.

Karen

My son is only a cub, and for him these types of events fall under the heading of helping the pack go. When he whines or complains about them, he is told if he doesn't want to help the pack, he doesn't need to be a cub scout. I would expect him to do the same for his troop in a few years.

Karen

Melgamatic,

Our committee sets the dues higher, but lets the boys fundraise so the parents have a choice to participate in fundraisers or pay the dues themselves. Our dues have been going down. When I checked the pack out for my son's tiger year, the tiger dues were over $200, but included several council events. We ultimately chose a different pack for his tiger year with dues of $5.00 per month. The choice had nothing to do with the dues. We had friends in the other pack and my son did what I required to earn the choice of packs.

Karen

My pack charges dues based on the age level of the boy. This year they range from $102 for Webelos 2 to $175 for Webelos 1 with the other levels falling somewhere in between. The dues include registration, boys life, awards, pinewood derby, awards, den supplies, and generally the book for the next level. They do not include day camp, but if the pack has funds they may pay for part, or council activities, it also did not include our spring campout last year, and I expect it to be the same this year. At the location the committee chose, each family paid for their own site and costs for swimming.

We do two fundraisers in the fall, popcorn and wreaths. The proceeds for each individual boy are credited toward his dues, so it is possible to fund raise the entire amount.

We also do a yard sale in the spring, with the proceeds from the yard sale going toward the dues for the following year, with any concession sales (we had muffins, donuts, coffee, and ice cream this past spring) going to the pack's general fund.

If a scout fund raises more than his dues for the current year, the additional funds are credited to his account for use on council events the pack participates in, council camps, or toward the dues for the next year.

When my son earned is tiger rank, I miss placed the badge. I went into my council office and they were able to print me the information I needed to replace the badge. We did not use internet advancement and I had filled out a paper form to purchase the awards for the pack.

Karen

Kenk,

I would look for to a book called Safety Wise as the girl scout equivalent.

Karen

My son's pack will scholarship 50% of a boys dues, which is down from what they were doing. They had offered to scholarship 100% in past years, but felt with the fund raising opportunities and the lack of participation by parents of the boys receiving the scholarship that 50% should be enough. The pack offers two or three fund raising opportunities for any boy to earn his dues. We do popcorn sales and wreath sales in the fall and a yard sale in the spring for a head start on the next year's dues. The pack committee will also work with the families and create a payment plan if needed. The dues for my bear son are $140 this year.

Dutch oven berry cobbler - I would think this would work with a devils food cake mix as well as a yellow

I've not actually made it either way, yet (just bought my first dutch oven this past Saturday) but have seen it made and the bite that was left for me was good

Lined dutch oven with foil, used two bags (around 16oz I think) mixed berries thawed, poured dry cake mix over the top, and added 7up to moisten. We cooked with the coals from dinner while we ate dinner

I know LDS packs don't have Tiger Cubs. They don't start the boys until they are 8

Forgot to include before

One station involved community service. I do not know all the details, but my understanding was the project was an Eagle project for one of the boys scouts running the station. The boys (wolf/bear) made welcome signs to be given to families receiving a habitat for humanity home.

I believe a different scout worked with the Webelos on a more advanced project.

The day camp my son went to this year was a big hit with him. It was four days running from 1:30 to 8:00 each day. The theme was Cub Scout Investigators. The biggest hits with him were the trading cards he received at each station with theme related items on one side and a map to help solve the mystery on the other (on some of the cards - trade cards to complete the map). Anyone that collected all the pieces of the map and solved the mystery received a special card and a treat.

The other item that was a big hit was the cooking despite being at that station right after dinner. They made english muffin pizzas one night and popcorn the other over hot coals.

The camp was huge (over 500 boys), but from my standpoint it ran very smoothly and my son had so much fun, he left saying he wished he could go to day camp every day that was not a school day. My only complaint would be that it is difficult to collect the trading cards when you don't come with your pack. In order to attend day camp, my son went to the camp by his father's home, because ours were too late this year.

Karen

AlabamaDan,

Any complaints in you pack about intuitiveness? I love it, but the other leaders in my pack couldn't seem to figure it out.

Karen

There isn't an overwhelming rush of girls joining girl scouts and all you need to wear to be considered in uniform is a couple of pins.

You might hang on to a few, but still won't reach the masses without uniforms.

Karen

I am using scouttrack for my son's den. I like it, but there are some things that are not intuitive, or are cumbersome. Also, I never seem to get any response when I have questions.

The rest of the pack played a little with it last year, but without clear cut training documentation they did not get to the point they were comfortable with it. My goal is to put together enough documentation to get some of the other dens up and going.

Most of my parents update their son's achievements etc for the individual work which makes sending my award list simple.

I love you can see all the requirements. It's great for the boys with two homes. One handbook can be purchased, but the other parent can still access the information if the handbook isn't sent with the boy.

My son owns four pairs of the switchbacks. It takes an act of congress to get him to wear anything else. The first pair I bought at the beginning of his Tiger year he is still wearing as shorts. They are starting to wear thin in the behind and the knees were torn from falls, but he has had them almost two years. I bought him three more pairs this year which are still in great shape. It is worth the price to not have to take him shopping.