5yearscouter

Oh and for communication and roster we just use Gmail, add in all the email addresses. make clicky sign up forms for events, type up short newsletter updates, add in the calendar, and use gmail documents to keep an excel-like roster with all the main leaders having access. We also have a free website that we can sync the gmail calendar if we want to, and create custom pages, store documents for everyone to see, but nobody wants to update the website, so there it sits....

we give each boy a handful of sticky notes in the front of their book. when the parents signs something, we ask them to put the sticky note on that page. then we collect the books once a month and look for sticky notes to record those things. towards blue and gold we might go thru a book and see if there is something we know the boy did but the parents forgot to sign. for webelos we TRY to get the boy to sticky note the book, and bring it to the den leader to be signed, sort of like they might need to do in boy scouting, but sometimes that works better than other times. we track rank

for dens we recommend the summary page of the excel spreadsheets -- not filling it in for each individual part of every thing for each scout on their own page, but a den-wide sheet showing the names of all scouts at the top and a place to mark next to each part when done based on attendance. something that could be printed and stuck in the front of the den leader book and checked off with monthly or every othermonth the boys turning in their books to be recorded. some den leaders do that, some just seem to wait for the parent to tel them that their so is done with the rank requirements ad th

For the boy without his bobcat badge, I would go over all the parts with him. For #8: With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the booklet, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse. I would step in and tell him to read the booklet and talk to his parent about it. The next time I see his parent--even if that means standing out in the parking lot and talking to the parent in the doorway of their automobile, and ask them to please cover this part with their son. Explain that it says with parent, so you as den leader can't do it with them. If the parent isn't the one drivin

We did socks wars in December. Everyone who wanted to participate brought at least 6 pairs of white men's athletic socks. We balled them all up like snow balls. divided them up so each den had about the same number of socks in laundry baskets at their fort. used the cafeteria tables they fold in the middle and are on wheels so we could make forts. and the cubmaster would blow the whistle and everyone would throw socks like snowballs. After a few minutes, blow the whistle to stop, everyone grabs socks and goes at it again. the adults started grabbing socks. someone took extra socks an

Basically it looks like Christineka has all the leadership she's required to have ON PAPER, but none really in person doing their job in person??!! I would ask each parent if they could help with 1 meeting, even if all they do is stay for the meeting and hang out. with the LDS church's history within scouting, any dads that sign up most likely were cub scouts themselves and they may be more helpful than you think. For big jobs, ask parents does anyone do woodworking and could help boys with birdhouses or making the step stools or pinewood derby cars? or if anyone is an outdoor nut that

We tended to do 45 min for tigers, 1 hr for wolves, 1 hr 15 min or so for bears, and 1 hr and a half for webelos. Start your gathering activity on time. do it for no more than 15 minutes, that means if they show up 10 min late, they get to start the activity and have to take it home to finish it. We'd try to do a small elective thing as gathering activity. so for wolves it would be the pie pan washer toss for a bit, or practice playing catch for the achievement; sometimes it would be sit down stuff like make an emergency contact list to put next to the phone--I'd print out a worksh

We had bad luck sending things home to be finished--they never were completed.. But there is no reason why you couldn't start it one week as the main activity and finish it the next week as the gathering activity. We also tended to break up craftsman and work on one project a month til it was completed, so we could mix things up and not be sitting doing crafts for a month+ straight. The boys liked things mixed up. Also be sure to have a pack meeting night to display everything you've made and ask the boys to all bring theirs to show off. We made the bear display thingy from the book f

ok, so to unclick the default scout user role, we'd then have to click which items all scouts should be able to do. Going thru the list, having used the TWHost for a while, which items are most likely for scouts to use? most of the items seem to be adult options, or scouts in specific leadership positions. Now if you don't click the view membership option, doesn't that mean they can't view any member data? That doesn't just hide some info, it hides all info about the scouts and leaders? We just want SOME reports or some data fields hidden from the member data reports, not all the data

Everything does not have to be strictly a Scout Sponsored Event. However You Must apply BSA Rules They Obtain a Tour Permit prior to Coming They Observe BSA Guidelines yes I agree. the default is events at troop, district, council, OA etc but occassionally a community or church event could become "under the auspices" with a little work by the unit/patrols. But just for fun stuff doesn't count cause it's not auspicious enough. auspices is a weird word, isn't it?

Type slower Basement.... I know you can set settings for individuals to see certain things, but that seems to take out whole tabs at the top for people, not just reports. So what exactly did he say you could do and where? We can hide addresses and phone numbers and email addresses how? when my CC emailed he did not get that kind of answer. so what question did you ask?

See that's an example of something that appears to be a community event, not a scout unit, district or council event--but it is supported and attended heavily by scout units. So we would talk it up in scout meetings, and get the SM on board to count it for the award. That would be something I'd think of as an exceptable under the auspices that isn't technically a scout event.

Scouter99 Oh I'm pretty sure any scout in our troop should have the camping rocker thingy, because we do camp 2 nights every month, plus a week long summer camp of 6 nites, so that's 28 nites a year (11x2+6) that is if they go on all the campouts, eh? I think comparatively, camping is the easiest one to get, almost too easy..... I don't think the allowances to count this or that are shortcuts, those are just the rules man! I agree that "Still, the amount of allowances written into the awards make ANY "fudging" ludicrous."

Based on how well the boys tend to do dishes when they are in a hurry and want to get on to the next thing, the sanitizing step seems like a really good idea. Backpackers tend to lick their dishes clean and maybe rinse their dishes and take them home to wash. I think you could mix up the sanitizing solution in a spray bottle and spritz it on and let air dry as a stop gap measure but then you are carrying a spray bottle with solution. of course it could be a 1 oz spray bottle, just enough to cover your bowl/pot a couple times. Does the sanitizing tablets eat the guts out of spray bottles so

"under the auspicies of the BSA"does not = everything you do as a scout is a scout activity. This award is designed not as a 1 and done or with built in shortcuts, or even that it were to be EASY and everyone in the troop can earn it without trying. I see it as something your long term scouts can earn, when they've already gotten all their mbs and ranks so they focus on taking it up a notch to finish up one of the rocker thingies or the pins. not something your 11 year old scout will get in a year or even two. If you were to add up the miles for trail to 1st class hike, hiking mb, backp

As far as I'm concerned it would be pack (if you were a den chief or when you were a cub if it's a cub award), troop, crew, ship, team, post, any unit function. Any district event, any council event or council sponsored event, national jamboree, OA. In certain circumstances, perhaps something with family, church, community etc with Scoutmaster's approval but shouldn't be the default that anything goes. So like a community bike ride with a LOT of scout presence, advertised at the troop mtgs, then if SM is ok with it, I'm ok with it.

Yeah we were hoping nobody would notice the "old" med forms. They say they are mandatory but was that mandatory jan 13 or jan 14? We have people who went to the dr in June of 13 and used the old form cause it came up when they did a google search (even though we sent them the link and told them what pages they had to complete). I know that we don't like the new one aside from it being so LONG -- because details about allergies is stuck at the top of page 2. Since we have scouts with deadly peanut allergies, and others with allergies to bananas and strawberries and other common foods, we

Yeah that's why almost everyone is listed as just parents, so they can't see quite as much stuff as people listed as leaders can see. One parent that is also a leader freaked out that they could print a birthday list of everyone adult and scout's birthdays. someone else freaked that in the contact list it showed their employer's name and phone number. they My CC has talked with TWHost and I believe its on a to do list somewhere. But there is a bit of disagreement as to who should see which reports. What our parents would like is to be able to click next to which info of theirs can b

Lots of people get confused about webelos dens/patrols because the webelos get to choose and wear a patrol patch on their shoulder rather than their den numbers. I know a lot of people here get all caught up in the difference between the webelos den with a patrol patch and a "real" boy scout patrol- but there can be a lot of similarities between a webelos 2 den and a new scout patrol within a troop. -I know some Webelos 2 den leaders who really work to transition their den towards the beginnings of acting as a patrol--with a patrol name, cheer, flag, patrol leader (denner) and the den le

I took a short glance thru this link from an LDS cub pack and it appears to give you what you need. it would at least give you a starting point. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=lds%20combined%20den%20meeting%20plans&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CFIQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubpack174.org%2FDownloadableContentHandler.ashx%3FmediaId%3D55975b06-a9ff-4939-b536-da1ccdba08a3&ei=UMPVUeL_A4mQiQLZqIBo&usg=AFQjCNFd55PehNpQEgWKagVXKWmlwi_X5A&bvm=bv.48705608,d.cGE yes it's a gobbledygook link, but when I tried the link button scouter.com gave you a link to g

I'm not sure I can help that much without typing a novel. In your meetings get as much adult help as you can. ask if you can get any boy scouts for help as den chiefs. assign a boy in each rank level to be denner. give him a lot of responsibility--he can pass out handouts or assignment sheets for the boys that are at different levels and be like a teacher's helper for his rank. have each rank do gathering, flags, announcements and closing together. Have each group sit as separately as possible for their main activity. There is a lot of overlap--a lot of repetition, but things s

We have troop web host that we just started up. But some parents don't like it due to privacy issues. Basically if you use itas your main database of info about all the youth and adults, by default that would mean you'd put in full names, addresses, email addresses, seveal phone numbers, etc. right? Well on all the reports, that any member can pull up, not just leaders, they get to see a lot of that personal info. since we have over 50 youth, that means there are about 100 adult who have the basic level of access. some of the adults don't want all the youth and all the adults to s

I've dealt with a scouter who didn't want to give us a copy. then finally gave us a copy but refused to sign the hold harmless agreement. then finally signed it but wasn't happy about it and complained. I would suggest to that person that if they are that worried about it, they should discuss with summer camp if they can review the form with the nurse/dr/medic at camp and show it to them that it is complete and if there is any part they need to reference like meds. then ask that their form be sealed in a big manila envelope with their name and unit number in sharpie on the outside to

our prior scoutmaster 2 years ago went thru the file cabinet and tossed everything. so I'd probably say a be a bit more sentimental than that! The BSA applications at the bottom say to keep on file for 3 years. Not sure if that is to the unit or to the council office. or if that is 3 years from joining or 3 years from leaving the unit.... overall we keep the applications as long as the scout or scouter is a member and then usually for a couple years after that just in case they come back. Sometimes a scout needs to access the date on his application if council records conflict wi