Sidney Porter

Yes they can start working on the achievments. You want to incorporate them into the den activities. If not they will fall behind on those and you will be playing catch up. That being said, I know that the software we use will not mark an achievement complete until they have you bobcat. We had a scout that joined as a Web he earned the activity pin but he did not show up on the report until his bobcat was completed. I never looked to see if this was actual BSA policy or just how the software worked. Bobcat as a Web was odd because we were trying to teach the other scouts the boy scout stu

A website is helpful for marketing and recruiting. We moved and switched packs between wolf and bear. Our initial evaluation was to look for websites. Most did not do a great job keeping them up to date but it gave us a general idea. For tracking achievements, notification and the calendar. I have used scout manager and youth manage (FKA scout manage)

I am not a wood carver but my dad is. So I have a lot of exposure to to proper carving tools and techniques. I would agree with you a pocket knife is not the proper tool for carving (although neither is a chainsaw but I digress). But IMHO the purpose of the the Whittling Chip is not create a project but rather teach knife safety. That can be done with the knives they own and a pocket knife, that knife is also the one they will more than likely taking camping. edit: you are going to be spending a lot of time on how to open, close, hand the knife to someone else, hold the knife, sharpen, sa

This is your first year as CM so you were not responsible for last years program. It sounds like the previous CM was also the Webelos den leader (personally I don't think people should be both a den leader and a CM, the CM should be focusing on the the overall program but that is another thread) you said he resigned and you had his replacement ready. So it sounds like you knew there were issues. So maybe they did quit because they were bored with the program. I think that it is easy to have disenchanted Webelos. Lets face it if the program does the same thing every year it is their 3rd or

Remeber this is Wolf. They should not need a bunch of handouts or applications it is just a couple of basic knots. I think you would be better off sticking with the couple knots that are in the book then trying to teach them a bunch of knots that will overwhelm them. Wolf overhand square tying your shoes with over hand bow wrap a package tie a stack of paper join two ropes together with overhand tie a tie (1/2 windsor) whip a rope with tape Bears whipping with string Square Bowline Sheetbend 2 half hitch Slip knot Webelos Whip and fuse square 2

I would melt, but I really think you want to teach how to whip.

This was brought up as a current pilot in some councils. It is mentioned in post 6. http://www.scouter.com/forum/cub-scouts/416571-webelos-transition-to-boy-scouts

It sounds like a lot of packs need a long term strategy for this type of stuff. In our pack we know who will be the next CM. The current CM has 2 years. The current CM knew for a year that he was going to get the role so he was able to plan and look at it from that perspective.

My first question... does the world need another cook book that is a collection of existing recipes? If you want to make something about cooking I would make it more of a how and why. So for dutch oven I would discuss temp control and how to modify an no dutch over recipe, ingredient adaption etc. Tinfoil you want to have ingredients that will cook in about the same time some of this can be controlled with the size of the pieces etc. Backpaking freeze dry vs dehydrated, weight vs nutrition, the different type of stove, the benefit of no cook meals. discuss what can be prepped a heard of t

It might be messy (and more expensive than a pool noodle), but you should do it with Ivory soap. Most kids probably have not seen floating soap.

How active were the Webelos with your summer program? I would have you new den leader reach out to th families and introduce him(her)self. The den leader should be able to read what is going on. You could do it but I in my mind it makes more sense to have it coming from the new den leader.

I like the paper airplane idea. You could have a hula hoop and see who can get their plane threw the hoop. Start at 5 feet away then move to 10 then to 15 etc. Each time scout would get eliminated if they miss. But to the OP you are right pack meetings should be fun they should not be boring for the boys.

I don't understand the desire to have the boats built quickly rather than giving them some time. What I like about raingutter is if you are working with the basal wood even a tiger can shape it and use screws to attach the plastic parts. (I think rain gutter is more hands on for the younger cubs than when compared to pinewood) There can be some real teaching moments in coming up with the design and letting them do the work. I also think you need to paint them or they will suck up the water. Our rain gutter doesn't take as long and there are not trophies like pinewood. So it is lower key b

The requirements are 10 years of age and their AOL or 11 years of age or Complete 5th grade We traditionally cross over in March. I have 2 scouts that will have their AOL by Oct while the other will not. Those 2 scouts are planning on waiting for the other scouts, even though they could cross over at that time. It could also depend on the troop. Do they want all of the the new scouts coming in at the same time? How do they structure their patrols? etc. It sounds like at some point someone focused on the completed 5th grade as the primary driver.

Getting tiger den leaders are always hard. If you are lucky you have someone who was involved (even if just a parent) with the unit in the past or someone that was involved with scouts in the past. But if those are not an option I have seen situation where you have one pack meeting and the CM says someone needs to be den leader figure it out. You could end up with someone but it might not be the best person. An approach that I have seen that work well is the CM takes the position for the first month (2 or 3 den meetings) this allows the parents to see how the program should be run,

Does your pack have activities during the summer? The way that I read this they need to attend a pack function each month that function could be either a pack meeting or a pack activity. Both packs that I have been involved with has had summer pack activities but not pack meetings.

We have planned events over Christmas break when school is out of session, although never on Christmas eve or day.

9 could be too many for the location that they meet. Personally I would love it if my current 5 person den was 9 scouts. Our den is the oddity in the pack. All of the other dens are between 8 and 12.

So the pack is holding a grudge about one kid crossing over and not liking the troop and this happened a few (3?) years ago? So the current Web 2 would have been wolves when this occured. When my son was a Wolf I did not pay attention to cross over politics but I would have been aware that there was a related troop. But either way it seem like this pack is really petty or there has been other things that have happened. So no one in your troop has younger brothers in the pack?

Where was it said that the parent patrol would not have youth protection and be not be registered? I an not a fan of the parent patrol idea but it appears that we are making an that assumption.

I would rather have a den of 9 than a den of 4 or 5. If you have any sort of attendance issues you end up with 2 or 3 at a den meeting which isn't much fun. You mention if you combine you have no room from growth, which I understand (I have seen people successful run dens as large as 12 but that was with active asst den leaders). But the other side of that coin is with 4 or 5 and a 2 scouts leave you are now really small. So that argument goes both ways. I understand you like having the meeting at your house. Does the pack access to a facility that can house that many people. Personally I

A lot of metropolitian areas have hiking, backpacking, kayaking etc clubs for adults. I think that some parents need to look into those. What I see happening is you get parents that had little exposure to the outdoors / camping there son gets involved with scouts and the parent realize that this is fun. But they don't know how to do it on their own so they leverage off of the scouts.

What things can they do with the troop that they can't do as webelos as a den? I know that there are items that can only be done at a council location but I am not aware of an exception if they are with the troop. http://scoutingmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/age-appropriate-guidelines-2013.pdf

I don't think that the job of the troop is to take the Webelos camping on a ongoing basis. From a recruiting standpoint it is helpful. But just like Webelos are tired of tigers, boy scouts don't want to be with 9 and 10 year olds. Lets be honest if the troop is doing a lot of stuff with the pack the troop is probably not challenging their scouts enough. I think that the Webelos den leaders need to be taking their scouts on Webelos den campouts. I also think that the a lot of packs need to be doing more camping. I know my nephew's pack doesn't camp. They will mention resident camp but jus