CubDaycampDirector

www.nfcscouting.org   council

www.blackcreekbsa.org   district

We just suggest everyone take it every year before summer camp along with safe swim etc.

It's a good habit, cause we are human and forget stuff and need reminders.

We required YPT, safe swim, weather and if they were a den leader, whatever training for their den level online, and they had to bring us proof they did them (stapled to their application).  We also did a 60 minute training class on camp--rules, expectations and YPT, as well as a 30 minute hands on overview on their specific positions (i.e. den leader, session leader, etc)

As Cub Scouts
At a camp in southern Georgia (yep), Tiger year
34 degrees

The boys were in cabins, no heat, with little window vents by each bunk.
Moms were in the only heated cabin.   
There was a dining hall that they could go in if they felt it was too cold.  The only ones who did so----Wolf den leader (Eagle) and his stepson.     Everyone else did fine. 
 

Password is found in that same area.

I know, but it won't change.   It keeps telling me the old password isn't the right one.   Funny, as it was the same password that I logged in with not more than 5 minutes before.

And for the "secret questions", I fill them out, and the system says that they aren't accepted.   I'm not sure why, as if they would know if I first attended school in Timbuktu or Toronto or Toledo....

I'll just let it sit for another month, and then maybe those issues will be fixed too.

Bad Wolf-

 

The only editable fields I see are to change my password and security questions. Ther is no other info there- no contact info to change at all. It is very odd. But again, par for the course...

 

dfolson-

 

All of my other training seems to be there, but IOLS is completely missing.

On the left hand side, look below  MY DASHBOARD.  click on MY TRAINING<  and you should get a choice of training, profile and account.   Go under PROFILE to change address/phone.

(Finally got access to my account after multiple emails and phone calls to the BSA.  Still missing my training for Camp director, though)

Is anyone else unable to answer the security questions and change the password?

Well, you can do science-y stuff and tie it into scouting.    There were tons of belt loops/pins tied to science stuff, that you could tie into summer camp.

Weather

Astronomy.  Paper rocket launchers are cheap to make and can be reused every year. 

Wildlife conservation
 

Animals are always fun to do---if you have it in the budget, get the local zoo to do a "class".   (example here:  http://jacksonvillezoo.org/zoooutreach )

Or maybe find a trapper.  In our old pack, we had one come in every year---didn't cost much, and he'd bring in live animals, talk about tracking/conservation.   Or a reptile/bug guy.   Good for an afternoon, when everyone has to be inside due to bad weather (Florida thunderstorms pretty much every afternoon in June)


CSI stuff.  One year, we did a session where the boys got to fingerprint each other, and had to find out who stole the cookies from teh cookie jar by comparing fingerprints of the suspects, as well as the tire tracks from the "getaway" Hot Wheel. 
 

We've done egg drops, building a boat out of limited materials (to hold pennies, sail across the tub), made paper, Super soap bubbles (glycerin, dawn and water),  slime (glue, borax, food color), cork compasses, sundials, rubberband helicopters, catapults.... 

Talk to a couple of elementary or high school science teachers and see if you can get them to come work at camp, or at least pluck their brains.   We had a science teacher and I just gave him free reign for his science session.   He had the boys entranced by termites walking in circles on a paper plate.  


Just don't give up yet.  Take a few weeks, and see if you can get some things worked out, before you opt out. 



 

My son has to read and discuss 3 stories about people, who've made a difference in the environment.  Do you know of any short stories?  Son's braille reading level is kindergarten.  His jumbo sized print reading level is higher, but his eyes get tired.  The stories I'd found before were really long.  

http://cleanhouston.org/heros/altman.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jan/05/activists.ethicalliving

http://asia-ecopreneur.blogspot.com/2009/01/top-3-people-who-made-global-difference.html

I used to wear them, but they are uncomfortable and over the years I have lost track of how many I need,

 

4 cub

4 boy

30 adult

 

I guess that wouldn't be too bad but next year I'd need the 30 year star and a 1 star so I'm back to 4 service stars.  That along with all the Cub/Boy/Venturing devices all poking at me, It is just easier to forget about them.  Oh, yeah, the two backs for the name tag, another pain in the butt (chest)

If you want to get rid of the backs for the nametag, we can recommend this company.

http://quartermasterstore.com/

You order the nametag you want, add on the magnetic strip on the order, and let them know you want it magnetic.  If you can get a big group order together, that's even better, for shipping.

I don't understand the parents who say "oh, I just don't have time to help".   We're all busy---you are not anything special.     I'm sure my family would like to sit down to a homecooked meal on Scout nights, but we just don't have the time to make it from work to home to Scouts (where we have to be 30 minutes early, to set the room up, etc).  Or, even better, we'd like to be able to leave camping before 1pm (like the rest of the pack, who leaves by 11am), but there is a kitchen to clean up and break down, a site to "police" for trash and items left behind, and our own gear to store.

Even worse are the Cub parents, who actually come and sit through the meeting, but "don't have time" to talk to the boys about their job or any of the character traits.  It's not like we're asking them to teach complicated knot tying, for crying out loud.

My husband was the den leader for our son from Tiger to Webelos 2.  The only meetings he missed were the ones where he was out of town for work (maybe 4 or 5), the ones when he was sick (a dozen or so) and when he had his kidney transplant surgery (no meetings even---and he still got up and made it to their bridging ceremony).    He managed to work full time, do dialysis every day for 3-4 hours a day, be their den leader and help with council events.   If he can make time, so can his parents. 





 

After a discussion in another thread about myscouting tools -- which I've used a million times since creating my account in 2003 -- I decided to log back in to check on this new option someone mentioned. I had literally been in the tool 5 days ago (as of this posting). I tried logging in but could not. Tried to recover my password, no dice. Tried using my email and BSA ID, still no joy. Tried every option offered by the system and nothing worked. Tried from work computers, laptops, iPads, iPhones, other networks and nothing worked.

 

Sent an email to BSA using their customer support. Their reply? Can't help me, open a new account. Tried contacting myscouting technical support and got the same reply. Called their help desk and they cannot find any record of me being in their system...ever!!!! They recommend a new account BUT they are not sure they can recover my old data!!!!

 

So how does BSA lose an account AND data over ten years old? I asked around fellow scouters and I am not alone. Of the 30 or so folks I correspond with nearly 1/3 have the same problem.

 

Advice: Check your myscouting account and back up your data. Don't trust BSA because they don't seem capable of managing ANY data.

I don't think it's a data breach.   It's just the usual BSA mess.  Someone updated a system somewhere, or pushed the big button, and it dorks everything up.   For the amount of money the BSA pulls in, they really should pay for and upgrade to a better system. 

This has happened twice to me now----the first time I had to make a new account with my number, and eventually they merged the two (so I didn't lose the 5 years of training).  Waiting to hear back from them on the second time. 

ETA:  my husband's log in works just fine.   But he's been on in the last year----I haven't logged in in at least 6 months.   Maybe it's a "purge"?

Not summer camp, but Cub Scout camp pranks

1.  One camping trip, the moms were separated into a different area (cabins) than the boys/dads.  One mom had a birthday that weekend.   Her cot and belongings all ended up on the porch of the cabin, all set up for her to sleep.    Same mom was given .40 in pennies from random people all day long.   (Man, those pennies were heavy to tote around at the start of the day....my pockets were so light by dinnertime!)     We all chipped in on a basket for her too---Ben Gay, mothballs, Depends, etc. 

2.  Cub Scouts don't wear no socks.   They all ended up in the CMs tent (all the clean ones anyways----the dirty ones were strung on clothesline outside the tent.)

3.  Our daughter made this paper mache puppet.  This was the stuff of nightmares---huge paper mache head (cross between a doll with big eyes and a bird, with a beak); cloth body; feathers all over it.  This thing was horrible.  For awhile, we would "gift" it to other leaders in the pack on camping trips---you never knew where it would end up.  In the sleeping bag (all the way at the bottom); hiding in the food trailer, behind the coffee canisters; in the bathroom window, peering down right above the toilet...... 

4.  Fake roaches (real looking suckers too) and snakes were everywhere.  Even on the serving line at breakfast (hidden between coffee cups, best spot ever)


 

The council area we're in does several different camps.  

1.  Twilight camp.    One week per district, run by the districts.  Mon-Fri, usually 6pm-9pm.   Volunteers only.   $100 per week, includes patch/t shirt/programming/activity fees/insurance.  Eat before they come, no meal breaks.

2.   Day camp.  One week per district, run by districts.   Mon-Fri, usually 8:30am-4:30pm, some programs have early/late sitting for a fee.   Volunteers only.  $125 a week, includes patch/t shirt/programming/activity fees/insurance.  Bring your own lunch.   $25 before/after care

3.   Webelos/Cub resident camp.  (used to be just Webelos, but enough parents threw hissy fits, and so they added Wolf/Bear)   One week, at Boy Scout camp at Camp Shands.  Run by council, paid staff.  Ran at the end of BS camp.   $150 for 3 days, $235 for 6.  For adult (required):  $80/120.  Includes patch/t shirt/meals/activity fees/insurance/tent and cot to sleep in. 

4.   Aquatics camp, weekly camp, run by half volunteer, half paid.  Runs throughout the summer (after the council day camp for that district is completed.  They run twilight camp during the first week of aquatics.  Time frame is roughly that of day camp).   this is for Cubs and Boy Scouts, up to a certain age.  $225 a week if paid early, $240 for late up to the week before, $255 for the week of.   $25 before/after care.  $40 busing (from across the river, 2 locations to drop off)   Includes Tshirt/patch/insurance.  Activity fees additional.
 

DS and DH went to Webelos resident camp, as a Web 1.   They had fun, but said you can tell the people running it were burnt out.  There were classes without leaders, by that point.

DS did aquatics camp for 3 years.  He had fun the first year; the second year he was mostly rained out.  The third year, he got to pick his own classes (due to age) and was bummed.  He had outdoor cooking, but the only cooking they did was make a pancake inside the trailer. 

Never did twilight camp, but we worked day camp, either as a volunteer to help or as the CSDPD for 4 years.  (One year, we even did two district camps, because they were short handed at one.)    After seeing all the politics and whining behind the scenes, I am pretty much done with that district, and for now the council.  Now that we've had some change (people leaving), maybe I'll go back to help out next year. 

The prices are getting outrageous.  There is so much pressure from council to turn a profit, it's ridiculous.  I was told that we didn't need to buy more than one pencil per boy for the whole week.   They used to hand out cups with each camp, but that practice has stopped, due to rising costs.   For my daycamp, I had $10 per scout for activities/supplies--which included printing, office and medical supplies, etc.  Another $3 per scout went to port-a-potty rental.  They spent $7 per scout for the patch/tshirt/cup.  The rest--pure profit.

That's a good choice for the boys. Nothing really challenging and it's nice and cool.

It was his first time, both at BS summer camp and rafting.  Tears were shed, but he made it all week without a meltdown---big improvements.  No mom or dad around to help him out---he came home with some bug bites and cuts on his hands, and lots of stories.   

I think his troop has something a bit more....adventurous...planned for the older scouts for a few weeks down the road. 

Chattooga, Ocoee, Nantahala?

Nantahala, I believe.   My husband handled the forms and stuff for this trip, and I don't have the email anymore. 

Horrible mom, huh? 

My son's troop is leaving this morning, headed to Camp Rainey Mountain, in northern Georgia.    It's his first year going, so we have no idea what he's in for.   The troop is going white water rafting (away from the camp) on their "day off".

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Camp-Rainey-Mountain-Northeast-Georgia-Council/126585194064956?fref=ts

LOL, at first I was thinking those were month/day numbers. WOW! And then the last one cleared things up. But even then...that's impressive.

Sorry, I should have put them the other way around.  I was trying to go through them in my head, and if I didn't go backwards, I'd miss someone. 

Our SE was just moved to another area.  He was here for the whole time we were in Cubs.  Waiting to see if the new SE has her head up her behind like the last one....

The district we were in prior to this one has a problem keeping DEs.  Going backwards:
3/15, the DE left for medical reasons.

7/14, DE leaves for more $$$$.  She was so young and perky, it was understandable why those old guys at Council wanted her in the office.   She even "bounced" all over the place.  (Cheerleader voice and all)

6/13, DE leaves after burning out.  Best DE out of the bunch----young, energetic, former Eagle, gung ho about the whole Scouting experience.  Burned out after being on call 24/7/365 (for example, he made arrangements to go out of town for Mother's Day, to see his mom.   The council booked an event for him--specifically, after he had made the arrangements and had the ok to go by council.  (Needless to say, that event went DE-less, and he put in his notice to leave after daycamp was over)   They would call him at all hours of the night over anything.   We ran daycamp together----I heard the voice mails left for him at midnight by the SE.  "R, we need to meet and go over the budget reports.  Will next Friday at 5 work?  Call me back ASAP with a response." "R, please call me ASAP to discuss the port a potty bill."  AT midnight.   Sheesh.  No wonder he wiped.

5/12, DE leaves for unspecified reasons. 

11/11, DE leaves for unspecified reasons.  We think he flipped out after his first day on the job---at Cuboree.   With over 2000 attendees.  Yep. They introduced him at the bonfire, and he handed in his key the next day.
Sept 2011, DE leaves for new job. 

Those are just the ones I remember.  I know there were at least 2 in 2009-2010, but I wasn't as involved at that time (just started).

Paperwork is best handled before camp starts.   The way I ran our camp was this:

Month in advance:  Notification went out---parent orientation dates, volunteer training dates, etc.   Dens assigned.  Emailed every parent email a copy of the camp orientation package, which outlined everything we expected from scouts/parents, from drop off/pick up to how to pack a lunch (snacks separate; cold stuff in one paper bag; noncold stuff like chips in another); to discipline and camp rules; and how to get ahold of camp staff in case of an emergency during the camp day (phone at boathouse was not usable). 
 

Two weeks before:  Parent orientation.  All paperwork and extra fees (medical forms were gone over by the nurse at this time; scout pick up forms, for car windows; early/late drop off sign up and payments) due at this time (preregistration was required, but we did allow registration for new Scouts).  Swim tests were done at this time as well.   Camp shirts handed out (one included in cost of camp, more available to purchase.)  

Two weeks before:  Volunteer training.  

One week before:   Second set of both volunteer training and parent orientation.

If a parent missed either orientation, then they had to park and come in first thing on Monday morning of camp.  Very few parents had to do this, but there were a couple.  Once the nurse had the medical form, she released the scout to our office den chief, who would escort the scout to his den, while the parents finished up with whatever needed to be done.  Swim tests would be done when the den had swim session. 

We set up our den tables (with pop up covers) alongside the dirt road that parents would drive on (looped around the back of the church so we could fit more cars).  Den leaders were expected to be at their tables prior to first drop off, with their reusable BSA totes for lunches and their den bucket.   Once scouts started arriving, we asked the den leaders to check off the scout on their attendance sheet, and to get them started on designing their den flag (paper and pencils in den bucket).   Once all the scouts for that den had the opportunity to design the flag, they decided which design to go with.     Den chiefs were to gather the cold lunch items, place them in the totes, and then bring those up to the boathouse for storage in the fridges.  (Much easier to deal with than trying to find 15+ coolers and stock them with ice daily.   We did scrounge up water coolers--and used giant frozen blocks of ice in them, from empty 2 liter soda bottles/creamer bottles/coffee containers filled with water and frozen in the deep freezers at camp---put one between two den tables, and one at each station, as well as 2 extra for swaps with empty ones.)

The den buckets always had something for the scouts to do in the mornings or during breaks... talking sticks (large popsicle sticks with icebreaker questions on them  like "favorite movie", "greatest super hero", "something you did for someone else this week") to den specific requirements. 



 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the price was steep.

National likes making it tough for us with this one. The Boy Scout handbook is the same price and in theory boys use it for many years (if they don't lose or destroy it),

 

They should have made the den leader book $20 and put pages to copy in for the kids (workbook style) then packs would just need to copy for boys and buy some binders at Walmart or staples in the back to school super sales. Orange, yellow, blue, green by rank. Would have been less expensive

Yes, but then council wouldn't get their $$$$. 

We gave the parents a choice. 
They could purchase the necker, slide and book at the scout shop or they could pay us for them and we'd pick them up, and hand them out to the boys.  This was meant to be a convenience to our parents, as the only Scout store in town was over an hour from our location, and open M-F 9-5 and Sat 1-4.   Tough to get in, for working parents. 

For a troop without the resources, I would say get a book, scan it into a computer, and send it out to the parents as a PDF, or get the CO to print off copies (in B&W) for the scouts. 

Also, our council would give new scouts their first book (not sure if they are still doing this) when they signed up and paid for BSA dues.  

Personally, our son loved getting his new book each year.  He'd devour it for a week, and then use it when needed. 






 

I lost my old log in information (CCbyTrickery here), so hi again.  /waves


Some things I learned from doing Cub Scout Day camp (as both staff and Program director):
 

1.  Shooting sports and swimming are what the kids are there for.  

2.  You have to have volunteers.  The way we managed it was to require 1 adult for every 5 boys per pack.  If pack A sent 4 boys, they had to send 1 adult; if pack B sent 7 boys, they sent 2.   No parents, the pack can't register.  If the adults fail to show, the parents are called to pick up the boys, as there just isn't room in the other dens to add more scouts.    Also, hit the schools---some teachers may be willing to come and volunteer for a week, teaching their subject.  I had a high school science teacher and an elementary school art teacher step up, as well as a grandparent who came in to teach sign language as a rainy day program one afternoon.
We also grabbed as many Boy Scouts as we could---I had boys that were Webelos 2s in my summer camp dens come back to work as BS the next summer!    And we also got with the local high schools, and offered volunteer hours for any teen willing to come work.  I had 4 girls running the concession stand, 3 with office work and first aid, and several in dens as "den chiefs". 
 

3.  Plan ahead.  Plan for sunny days and rainy days.  Plan your classes and schedule ahead of time, and plan (and get supplies for) a couple extra sessions, in case one fails.  For example, we were going to make seed paper one day---until the volunteer that was blending the paper burnt out all 6 of the blenders.   Instead, we did skits and songs. 

4.  Do something nice for your support staff and volunteers.  The camp had always done a hot dog/hamburger BBQ for the volunteers after camp on Thursday, but it was poorly attended (volunteers only, no kids or spouses, so people were expected to leave and take their kids home, then come back.)  Instead, we did a thank you each day---one day chocolates, another mints/hard candies, um, water bottle flavor packets, things like that.  The last day, I gave out glass magnets that I made, with BSA pictures and the date on them.

5.   Volunteer training is important.  make sure everyone understands their roles, where things are, etc.  Our first day camp, as staffers, had the CD talking about himself for an hour, and we learned nothing.  Came in the first day to sheer chaos--there were kids playing by the lake unsupervised while the CD and PD were registering people (oh, don't do that either--stop registration at least two weeks in advance!).