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taamland

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Everything posted by taamland

  1. http://cubscoutideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cub-Scout-Connections.pdf Here you go.
  2. Kittatinny Mountain Scout Reservation run by the Central New Jersey Council in Branchville, NJ is my absolute favorite summer camp. Located right off the AT and real close to the Delaware River, they have continued to wow me through the years. Their staff is great, scenery is beautiful and have just about 40 merit badges and programs for scouts to take part in. The are a small camp so the staff really gets to know you personally by the end of the week. My troop has traveled all around the northeast (just came back from Rodney in North East, MD) but none of them hold a candle to our exper
  3. Here is an idea. Unless the actual geography of your council's camp is the problem, why not try to improve the camp you've got. Send a few boys to camp staff, a crew up for a beaver day to build a new program area, have a fundraiser to add something new or improve something allready at camp. Too often camps close down because of a lack of attendance and funding. Granted I don't know the particulars of your situation but I know that your council's camp belongs to you and your troop. And you have a responsibilty to your current scouts and all future scouts, that will come to said camp, to m
  4. I completely agree. I'm only 26 and I see the same thing happening to the kids in my town. It's summer vacation and the neighborhood used to be full of kids running about. But you might see a pair once a week. I'm from Central New Jersey and open space is hard to come by. That is why I loved scouting. It got me outside to places i could explore with my friends. But it is not only TV, Technology, or the parents fault. It is also our communities and our sense of priority and the irresponsible development that occurs. The small patch of woods I spent many years playing in behind my house are n
  5. I wholeheartedly agree with using the Patrol Method. 5 years ago my troop was using the troop method. We had 11 scouts, minimal participation, and a high attrition rate. The boys would sit around staring at the wall during meetings waiting for someone to tell them what to do. The did not have to plan anything all they had to do was pay their money and show up. Now after moving toward a more patrol method troop. We have 32 scouts, a 20% attrition rate for new scouts, and nearly 80% participation on every trip. It is easier to do fundraisers because the scouts see it as helping out thier t
  6. My troop is looking to incorporate itself. We would like to have a buffer in case anyone sues individual leaders, they would have to sue the coroporation first. Becomming incorporated we could file for nonprofit 501c3 status and accept donations from local corporations. We would also like to prevent ourself in the unlikely event it happens from our charter organization the church from taking our money and equipment. How would this work from a leagal standpoint? Doesn't BSA Liability insurance already protect individuals from being sued. As far as equipment and money goes wouln't we need
  7. Just had our committee chair bail on us. And right before recharter time nonetheless. I was wondering who has the authority to select a new Committee Chair? Is it only the Institution Head and Chartered Org. Rep.? Or does the committee select by vote? How about the Scoutmaster? I'm just wondering who has the final say in "hiring" a new committee chair?
  8. Don't Know if this is what you are looking for but Central New Jersey Council is Having a Joint Climbing instructor training program With Patriots Path at Camp Allamuchy. It says it is for Climbing Directors. http://www.doubleknot.com/Registration/CalendarDetail.asp?ActivityKey=108999&OrgKey=660
  9. I don't think we as leaders should be chasing after each scout making sure he has everything done. I don't believe the scouts are babies. If they want something they need to realize that they must go out and get it. Doing it for them takes away from the experience. What will this teach them? That later in life I don't have to rely on myself for anything, someone else will always be there to do it for me. What is next have the parents do the work for them? I wonder if they do their homework too? I would advise strongly against doing any of the work for them. If they want to advance the
  10. I'm sorry I should've clarified that. I meant the actual Boy Scout Handbook. It seems to have been stripped of all useful information over the past 30 years. Has anyone ever tried to use the index in that thing? If you look up the word compass it will send you to every single page the word compass is mentioned not to the section on orienteering. I guess that is what you get when you let a computer program create your index. Yes I have heard about the new Troop leader training. I have been asking about it since I saw the little blurb on National's website. My council tells me national
  11. Our troop is doing a JLT weekend event next month. Got sick of the prepackaged one. I was looking for ideas regarding what to include in the weekend. We plan on watching two movies and disscussing the leadership themes in each. We plan on going through how to run each aspect of the troop. A Patrol meeting, a Troop Meeting and a PLC meeting. Most JLT courses that I have seen tend to bog down in the theoretical leadership techniques and stray from giving participants any concrete information. I was thinking about doing some team building games from cope. Anyone have any suggestions? Another
  12. It took me a while to figure out just what the roundtable meetings were supposed to be for. My districts Roundtables sometimes have been a bunch of announcements followed by everyone staring at the wall saying does anyone have anything to say. Just recently they have seemed to improve. It seemed like the cub roundtable was the only one that anyone paid any attention to. I'd love for a roundtable to have discussions just like the ones that take place here. Maybe this forum could be a resource for your monthly roundtables. Just grab a hot topic and bring it up at the meeting. It does seem
  13. Our troop has five assistant scoutmasters (myself included) that have made the jump from youth member to adult leader. It is truly an asset having leaders who fully understand the program from the scout's perspective and are fully trained in scouting skills. It usually takes most parents about a year to truly "get" the program and even begin learning scout skills. The way we have recruited our adult leaders is we include an adult application in the eagle award gift pack for our 17.5 yr old eagles and as one of our scouts ages out we ask them to stay on as ASM's. The trick to keeping them is
  14. Our Troop will be headed down to Maryland to Rodney Scout Reservation on the Cheasapeake Bay. Great sailing program, The best first year scout program I have seen, and a great camp overall. We camped at Ockanickon last year. Beautiful facilities but it really takes the camp part out of summer camp and replaces it with resort. It seems to be run more like a coporation than a boy scout camp. Had some problems with merit badge mill style of camp. 20 to 30 scouts in one class is a bit much for any youth staffer to handle. Had some scouts sign up the first day never go to the class or hand a
  15. Does anyone have chapter and verse on that? When I had proposed it to the other adults in my troop, I nearly had my head bitten off. Taamland
  16. I was reading the COR Training on national's website and it said that the COR's are voting members of the council. Does anyone know what committees they are a member of? I assume the District Committee but is there a council committee or a large meeting of COR's somewhere out there. My council isn't the best with communication. TA
  17. My troop has just seemed to really begin to utilize the new scout program. In the past there was a troop guide and a group of 1st year scouts but that was about it they began to function just as a regular patrol and they usually stayed together. But this year with our five brand new crossovers, a bang up Troop guide, and an experienced ASM to oversee the whole thing it seems to be going in the right direction. Granted it's only been a few weeks but they seem to have gotten off on the right foot. I do have a problem if the program becomes too classroom-like, the scout just sit and listen and
  18. My troop has had equipment woes for quite sometime. We have had a quartermaster but unfortunately he has only functioned as a scout who oversees loading equipment. In the past an adult has come to the equipment room before the campout and pulled all the gear we will need. The quartermaster then packs up our troop bus or cars. I think the troop quartermaster is an essential position as well as patrol quartermasters. My plan for our equipment is to have a well organized equipment room (sometimes you can not even walk in ours), have troop issued patrol equipment contained within plastic tot
  19. I'm not sure if anyone is from the NJ area but my troop is participating in an invitational camporee known as Snuffy Hollow. From what i gather it is a more "traditional" camporee largely stressing the patrol method and some classic scout skills. The patrol equipment list requires semaphore flags. There is no real scoutmaster crackerbarrel only an SPL meeting/critique. From what i gather the Junior Leaders (SPL, ASPL, and JASM) are not allowed to compete. They must supervise and run Troop operations. The campsites must be set up to particular standards. i.e. distinct patrol campsites, no plas
  20. taamland

    Hi

    Hi All, I'm from a troop in central NJ. That has recently (last year) doubled in size as a result of a merger with another troop. Putting us at over 35 scouts. The troop that folded was run by one very dedicated mother who did not have the resources time or volunteers to keep her troop afloat. She now has been one of our greatest assests on the committee. The new influx has been a blessing and a curse. We have a lot of parents willing to pitch in and lend a hand but unfourtunately no strong committee chair to organize them. To top that off we only have 2 ASM's and a Scoutmaster who has
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