Faith

I appreciate both those suggestions, unfortunately we are in northern minnesota and will be completing these adventures in January.  Cold, dark, and snow are the 3 words that come to mind making those suggestions difficult to complete.

 

 

however the birdhouse idea might be workable as its something that can be done inside.

My den loved building birdhouses last year. You can always build them now and go distribute them/put them up/etc. when the weather warms up (tie going out to do that with something else or do it just to finish that requirement up.)

Faith,

 

    My district's Cub and Boy Scout Roundtables have always been excellent, and the staff over the years has also been great. Some meetings better than others, but they've always asked for input (every July at a special Roundtable meeting) and used most of it. Sounds like Roundtable staff training is nonexistent or ignored.

    I will assume that PCM stands for Pack Committee Meeting. As long as everyone is somehow getting the district and council updates and sharing them at your PCM's, sounds like that's the next best thing to a correctly executed Roundable program.

 

Party on,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

sst3rd

You are correct on PCM. We never had district roundtables until a year ago. We always had pack committee meets (mislabeled as roundtables) until then. Sometimes district people will attend but we get most of our info from online or calling around. The staff training is nonexistent, if it exists, we were never made privy to it. We will continue with our PCMs until we can do more at the RTs

 

 

Oh, and go to RoundTable in your District.  You will find sympathetic Scouters there, both successful (you define!) and trying hard to be.  Learn from each other, enjoy each other's company.

 

Our Roundtable is a nightmare to put it politely. We have three packs in our district total and only people from our pack attend along with our DE, RT commissioner and a few others that have nothing to do with our pack. The meeting is based on how to bring in more money every single time (for said district.) Our suggestions are ignored and not everyone there is willing to help. Any time we bring up something we would like help or input about, we are told to address it at our PCM. So now, that's the only meet most of us leaders attend. Our Pack Committee Meets are amazing. I look forward to those every month. We have great leaders who are eager to help one another. I must say I'm jealous for those districts that apparently have great roundtables! 

(Had to get that out for us who have PCMs instead of RTs.) 

Welcome! Hope to see you around.

In our Webelos den we have 9 boys.  We usually have about 7 in attendance at various meetings.  We have changed days to accommodate what we believed to be the most people. (We had a couple complaints a month after the fact....they had a chance to speak up but did not.)

 

So this weekend is the big pack camp out and we plan to do some of the Cast Iron Chef and Webelos Walkabout requirements, such as cooking a meal and completing the 3 mile hike.

 

Only 6 of the boys are coming.  So do we repeat the requirements at a den meeting or just tell them to complete them on their own?  

 

What do you usually do in your group?

I am a Webelos den leader with 12 regular scouts. In the beginning, I was a bit delusional, telling parents how imperative it was to attend all the meets between now and February so that we could get the requirements covered with plenty of time for each & then when sports hit, if they had to pick and choose, it would still give them a chance to do both along with letting their scout rank up. Of course, things happen and come up.  They can't make it every single time.

I wanted to go with the whole "if I don't see it, it doesn't count'" approach but there are some things that just won't work like that. For those who have made all the meets but say one, I have talked to their parents at the end of another meet, had them stay over and work with me and a few other scouts who didn't mind staying over to get them caught up (or close to it until the next meet.)

For those who have missed multiple meets, well, they've made no effort thus far to get with me about making the items up. Come B&G, if they haven't completed the adventures (to where I know they did and wasn't just told they did,) they will not rank up at that time. I'll offer once more to work with them with a few other scouts, if they're willing, after B&G to get them caught up before June 1st *but* I won't fudge the paperwork or award the rank to them just to be nice. I know a lot of people will but that patch isn't required to move up. If you want it, you're going to have to earn it. I will give a chance or two to catch up, as long as it doesn't hinder my scouts who do show up like they should but if I know they're not taking it seriously, I will not waste my time.

For Webelos Walkabout, we just voted on a definitive date to go on it. I had every parent give me input (half were at the meeting and voted then, the other half were through a phone call or text.) I will not make this up unless we have a legitimate reason to. Every single parent knows when it is and said that date worked for them. Barring horrible weather or an emergency, I expect them there.

We will see how it goes!

As a Webelos leader, we're really enjoying it this year. I feel like we have plenty of time to work out our required adventures. We just finished up the first aid adventure last night. We put together a great first aid kit to bring with us on our hike in January. We had a parent who is also a fire fighter speak and relate their job to our trip (I didn't think they'd be able but they did an awesome job.) Before it got colder here, we had a few outdoor meets to do the outdoor activities. Those were some of the best den meets we've ever had and I had full attendance (12 scouts.)

As far as immediate recognition, I am also our Advancement/Awards chair, so I put into motion something like j.edi mentioned. In August, our pack purchased all the belt loops and pins required for scouts to rank up (I used ball park numbers for what we needed - we ended up with extras that I'm holding onto until next year which I keep in a tackle box of sorts like mentioned above.) I also had each den leader pick 1-2 electives they plan to work on as a group and we purchased those as well (since each rank has a certain amount required.) Their parents were told early on that any future ones worked on, up to 5 total including the required ones, will be covered by the pack *if* they do it as a whole. If they choose to do electives on their own time, they will help cover the cost.

I drew up a form stating how much I handed over to them, with spots on the bottom to record each scout they have awarded each one to. At the end of the year, they turn the paper back over to me with the leftovers. If they do not, they agree on a second paper to help us cover the cost of what they lost (I'm holding onto that one.) Is this perfect? No. May this possibly fail? Yes. But we're going to try it out anyways and work from there while we're able to do so. We have some great leaders working with us this year and I'm going to be optimistic that this works for us so we can continue this model (or one similar to it.)

So far, kids have gotten immediate recognition in all our dens and feedback has said they love it. We save the big awards for the pack meet and that has given us more time for announcements, games, etc. It has been a great year so far and I hope it continues!

You just need to have faith. Oh wait, you ARE Faith!

As long as you don't start singing to me, we're cool

Glad to see this place back up and running. I was starting to get a little worried

Our pack meets start at 6:45pm and wrap up absolutely no later than 8pm. Most of the time, however, we're walking out around 7:35pm. Now that we don't have all the belt loops to hand out, that has cut our time down significantly in a great way. More time for games, information to be dispersed, bigger awards to be recognized, special guests, etc. So far we haven't had any complaints from the first graders' parents (we have almost 100 scouts registered this year) but the year is young I'd LOVE to do these on Friday nights as I agree with being an issue of commitment but we already had many say they would not attend. So we settled on Mondays which work for the most of us.

We will be doing our Webelos 3 mile hike in January. My husband and I found a historical nature trail of sorts nearby that's right at 1.5 miles (both ends come out into a parking lot.) So we will hike to one end, then back to the beginning Beautiful location with an outdoor amphitheater, river access and some other neat points. I have 12 scouts so I will definitely have some help with my assistant den leader and guardians. We're looking forward to it!

We have had a den flag every year since my son was a Tiger. Each year, we buy a navy blue pillow case. We decorate one side of it and put three curtain-type rings on the top. At each pack meet, we hang ours up on a provided pole (all dens do.) This is usually our very first project of the year, it helps the boys get to know one another (when we were still accepting new ones into our den) and is always fun. I incorporated hand prints into every one we've made. We only have 4 boys who have been with us all 4 years but its awesome to see how they've grown. We also hang up all our ribbons on it with a clamp and some string (summertime ribbon, the ribbons we make for each twilight camp day, etc.)

<<

How are y'all handling the swords, as far as the scouts go? We had small ones made of wood that our program director made and had them paint. Problem was, if anyone was even remotely seen as pointing it at someone or poking someone with it, they had it taken. I admit I apparently spaced out during training when that was covered but I don't even know why we had them there if that was a huge no no. Yes I realize you can't go around stabbing one another but...well, I'll hush, lol. Just curious how others are doing it. That's why we jousted with noodles >>

 

 

Swords are made from about 18" of 1/2" PVC pipe,  with hilt made of 3/4" wood with a 5/8" hole bored in it,  and screwed into the PVC to hold it in place.  The PVC pipe is covered with a layer of pipe insulation for padding and that is covered with a layer of aluminum foil  ("Cubs in SHINING" armor!)

 

Swords will not be issued to Cub Scouts  --- there is no way to stop them from fighting with each other.

 

Instead,  swords and lances will be considered stage props for activities such as skits and den pictures.

 

For jousting I have two "quintains"  (Google that if interested)  They are rotating targets boys can hit with a lance.

 

Gotcha We should have never had them handed out but for some reason she figured that's a great idea. The quintains are an awesome idea!

 

1. Great ideas and pictures!

I especially liked the castle and the archery targets.

 

We have a volunteer who is going to be making a castle out of a 4x8 piece of plywood + some add on towers.  We'll be using that and swords and lances I made as props for skits.

 

The lances will also be used in our jousting competition  --- we have two "quintains"  for jousting which can be used in a variety of ways which should be fun.

 

Thanks Those targets were such a pain. So much sponging, lol. We did it indoors as we were dying outside in 100+ degree heat. But made for fast drying! By the time those were done, I just slapped some targets on a castle and printed it for bb targets. We just didn't have the time to make anything as elaborate for over there (or the materials.)

Y'all's castle sounds like it will be great! We went with a western theme last year and someone made a stage coach. I don't want to know how long that took him but it looked awesome. Sadly he dropped out this year so we made due with what we had (he too was going to make a castle of such out of some material he had laying around.)

How are y'all handling the swords, as far as the scouts go? We had small ones made of wood that our program director made and had them paint. Problem was, if anyone was even remotely seen as pointing it at someone or poking someone with it, they had it taken. I admit I apparently spaced out during training when that was covered but I don't even know why we had them there if that was a huge no no. Yes I realize you can't go around stabbing one another but...well, I'll hush, lol. Just curious how others are doing it. That's why we jousted with noodles

Now that I have a minute (of course well after midnight), I'm attaching a few photos of our twilight camp (these scouts' parents have signed photo waivers for what its worth.) For camp, some of our activities were: 

• Noodle jousting
• Swimming in Lady Laura's Lake (a play on lady of the lake and utilizing our pool) 
• Archery in the form of shooting at castles at bower's battlegrounds (since dragons are a no-go) 
• Creating shields, swords, a mini coat of honor on a rope (for name tags), paper helmets & capes all in crafts 
• Whittling (for those who don't have the chip yet), learning the various ways to make foil packs and fires for Webelos (no one made a fire, just went over every step except the lighting) & learning the proper way to do a handshake for all ages (our area of scout skills)
• Creating catapults from drink caps, Popsicle sticks & rubber bands & seeing chemical reactions for engineering
• There was more (bb range, another photo op, etc.) but this is the jist of it.

My best friend worked on the sheilds for the opening ceremony in one of the photos below (one of the few ideas we borrowed from national.) She and I (very last minute) turned 6 large fridge boxes into a castle that the kids have used a photo prop all week (and dragon hole up for our mascot.) 
 
Its been a very hot but wonderful week. For a camp we were worried wouldn't pan out, I couldn't have asked for a better time. The boys have loved it. Our dinner and awards are tomorrow.

Just wanted to see how your camp ended up going (I wasn't sure which week y'all were doing it.) Ours with this theme starts tomorrow. I have very little to do with planning the program like I'd hoped (I was up to my eye balls in spreadsheets, paperwork, a few crafts, binders and doodles.)

I love the new leader guides. Our pack graciously bought 5 of these (one for each rank) and gave them to each leader. We all agreed that if we did not return them at the end of the year, we'd cover the cost for the next year's leader of that rank. I have mine in my den binder and has already helped me immensely with planning our our year ahead. Granted I'm using it mostly for my den plans alone (getting all the achievements we need done before B&G if at all possible) but I love the way they laid it out. Much easier to understand this go round.

I personally would prefer the kids have their book before their neckerchief/slide. I know that may not be a popular opinion but in the past, many of our boys never purchased anything over class B but always had their books. This year our pack is trying to implement a way to help scouts get a full uniform so I'm hoping that with help with those having to buy a book. So far I haven't had many complaints but the new scout year is just beginning We shall see!

Faith,

 

the syllabi are out for the live classes.

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/515-215.pdf

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/511-503_WB.pdf

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/511-504_WB.pdf

Thank you very much! I need to brush up on my searching skills (again blaming it on having to work weekends, lol)

A follow-up to my own post, according to the program updates page on scouting.org (http://www.scouting.org/Home/programupdates.aspx):

 

The online training for den leaders, Cubmasters, committee chairs and members, and chartered organization representatives has been totally updated with help from volunteers from around the country. The new training will be divided into shorter, more targeted modules so leaders can get the training they need, in the order they want, any time they need it. The new training is organized around the learning needed prior to the first meeting, in the first 30 days, and to be position-specific trained. This new training was developed to be implemented in conjunction with the BSA’s new learning management system. The anticipated timing for launching this new tool is June 30, 2015. Keep an eye on MyScouting Tools (logging in through MyScouting.org ) for more information.

 

So, by inference, I suppose the e-training courses will be updated on June 30th along with the new learning management system.

 

As Pack Trainer for my pack, I find it difficult to get on anyone's case to get their training done until the BSA makes the updated e-training available to pack leadership. It appears that in-person training of the new program is being provided by my council, but my pack's leadership is notoriously bad at taking advantage of such offerings.

I was just looking for this on the website, thank you! As a rising Webelos leader and also our pack's trainer, I was curious as to when  we should be seeing this as I noticed the old ones were still up. We shall see if its up then

You mean #Cubchat?  @WarroadPack151 here!

Yup, I thought that was you! The internet is but so big I guess when it comes to scouting I stick to my name as my handle. Can't seem to remember much else! Although I missed the last two due to work

Sigh.

 

I can assure you all that, other than the tools necessary to perform the functions of a moderator, the moderators never asked for, and up to now did not know we had, access to any features that other members did not.

 

I do not regard the ability to specify gender in a profile - or even to have a profile at all - to be particularly important in being a member of this forum, or in being a moderator. I have somehow managed to get along for 13 years in this forum, including 2 as a moderator, without it. I would gladly give it up if it meant I didn't have to read some of the snarkiness I have been reading over the past couple of days.

 

I will also say, now that Packsaddle has referred to it, and there has also been some evidence of it in the forum, that it appears that this new software does have a feature that will automatically ban a second account that uses the same IP address as a previous account. Otherwise I would create a non-moderator account to test what non-moderators can and can't do. But I hope you'll all forgive me for waiting for the powers that be to figure out a way for me to do that without violating the very rules I am supposed to be enforcing! Thanks. I appreciate it.

Okay, here's the scoop on Linux.  

 

I have Firefox on my Windows XP and the editing menu does not come up.

I have Firefox on my Ubuntu Linux and the editing menu DOES come up and works fine.  It's an older slower machine that works better than my newer PC.  Go figure.

 

As the moderators have pointed out, NO they cannot fix many of these problems.  They are moderators of the forum, not tech support..

 

Admins with greater flexibility in manipulating the forum settings may or may not be able to fix many of the concern either.  The administer the software, they do not do tech support.

 

However, (not being snarky here) with that being said, hopefully they can pass along some of the information being expressed (yes, gender is not a big issue that everyone has to lose any sleep over).  I'm thinking that if the admins can fix it they can pass it along to the software people who are providing this so they know what to fix for future releases.  They are not users, they can only speculate what they think the users might want.  

 

I don't know if the software developers can even handle many of the issues I have identified, but I have had 15+ years custom programming experience and have had to test hundreds if not thousands of pieces of code to make sure they did what they were supposed to do.  And then,depending on on the platform, system software and program combination, not everything can be addressed.  Why would Firefox work on Linux and not on Windows and Chrome and IE do just fine. I dunno, and I really don't care.  I can make it work.  I only passed along what I found out just in case someone up the food chain did care about the issues. 

If I came across as snarky to either of you, I apologize. I do understand the difference between a moderator and a developer. When I was a moderator for Zynga's forums, I was jumped daily for glitches in both their games and forum alike. All I could do was pass along info. Yes that's off topic but I wanted to say I know how hard it is sometimes dealing with people who gripe about thing out of your control (and would never be my intention here.)

I originally thought that I was overlooking the gender option (and had intended on removing my original post if that was the case) but after y'all replied I realized that it wasn't just me. It's not an important issue and I'm sorry if it came across like I was throwing a fit over it. Unless I come across something that bars me from posting or using the forum correctly, I'll keep my nose out of this area.

Again, thanks for looking into it and letting me know that it wasn't just me.Y'all have a great weekend.

I would like to suggest two things for the benefit of the bug-tracking process, and particularly to assist the individuals (who appear to be two in number) who will be the ones to directly address any issues.  (The Moderators can address the issues in the sense of talking about them and commiserating about the problems, but we can't actually do anything about them in a technical sense.)

 

First:  When giving a "bug report" including "I don't see (whatever)" I think it would be helpful to say what kind of device you are using and the name of the browser and, if possible, the version.  As we have seen already from Stosh's posts, it apparently does make a difference what browser you are using, and hopefully the Administrators will be able to use this information to "standardize" what people see across different devices and browsers - although I suspect it probably will not be possible to help everybody with every issue.  At least they will hopefully be able to explain what is happening.

 

When editing my profile, I can see the "Gender" drop-down box (three choices: Not Telling, Male and Female) on both the devices I use to access this forum:  A standard-issue laptop with Windows XP and the current version of Chrome, and a first-generation iPad with Safari, not sure what version but almost certainly not the current one.

 

Second:  I know this sort of goes against something I said yesterday, but in this folder and any others discussing technical issues having to do with the forum, I strongly suggest that we all remain strictly on-topic.  That way the Administrators will not have to wade through all kinds of irrelevant commentary to get to the technical issues.

Thank you for the additional information.  I have used my smart phone (Chrome), laptop (Windows 8 - Chrome, Firefox and Explorer) and desktop (Windows 7 - Chrome, Firefox and Explorer) and do not see it. As a moderator of multiple other forums, I know that sometimes you have additional options that we cannot see as regular users as Stosh stated. I just wanted to bring it to attention that while it may be there for some, it most definitely isn't for everyone (which I counted as a bug.) I apologize for not including more details. I am attaching a screenshot as well.

Not a huge deal, of course, but something I still wanted to bring to attention. Not sure if that means there are other things we cannot access as well.

Click on your user name at the top of the screen, then My Profile, then Edit my profile, its all there.

Hmm. I'm still missing something. That was the first thing I tried before posting and I see no spot for gender. I see birthday among other things but no gender. I realize it has to be there somewhere, I just don't see it:/

I stumbled across it on BSA's scoutingwire.org website.  Some really good info in there.

I really enjoy their weekly emails they send out for when I forget to check there. I participate in their twitter chats weekly and they threw that link out awhile back. I second lots of good info!

I thought the same thing as you Faith, but I can't find anywhere to indicate that.  But with the name Faith and a Den Mother avatar, I bet I can guess your gender in less than 3 guesses. 

Maybe so. I just don't want people to think its a façade and I have anything fishy to hide ya know Plus...its just one of those things that bugs me hah.