Hedgehog

Found this: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/03/13/interpreting-under-the-auspices-in-national-outdoor-awards-requirements/ Bryan says that you get credit for what you do for merit badges -- which in some instances can be done on an individual basis. So the 16 mile backpacking trip my son and I did for his backpacking merit badge counts as well as the 12 mile hike that we did which qualifies for his hiking merit badge.

Quarterback: I'm going to call four passing plays this series. Coach: You're in charge. OR Quarterback: I'm going to call four passing plays this series. Coach: Their secondary has been playing behind our receivers and they have two substitutes in for linebackers, you might want to think about a play action. “Scouting is a game for boys under the leadership of boys under the direction of a man.†Baden Powel. When it comes to the outdoor program, we are there to guide, suggest and to provide considerations. That way, the boys learn how to make good decisions and, eventu

You might want to read this to your leaders (paretheticals for explanation): A Scout (Leader) is trustworthy (in that scouts can trust them to do the right thing), loyal (to scouts that are loyal to their troop), helpful (especially to those that need some help), friendly (a friend is there when you need them), courteous (means doing something above and beyond what you have to do), kind (that should speak for itself), obedient (and follow BSA rules), cheerful (that means cheerful in fulfilling the rest of the oath), thrifty (don't waste time being unscout like), brave (do what is right, no mat

We've taken a hybrid approach for some outings. Older guys set out on a backpackng trip on Friday. Do 4 miles, camp. Wake up on Saturday, do 4 miles and meet up with younger scouts. They do 6 miles together and camp. On Sunday, they do another 4 miles together. We've done COPE weekends where they guys are together in the morning and the older guys do some more challenging stuff in the afternoon while the younger guys climb on the rock wall. We did one campout where one group (mostly 7th graders and up) biked 25 miles to and from camp and another group just took cars. That being said

I didn't know about that. Thanks for posting. I looked at this with my son and we realized he qualified for Camping and by the end of the summer would be 8 nights away from a gold device. He is will be one merit badge short of hiking and 100 miles (a 50 miler and then another 50 miles) short of riding. I think that the National Medal for Outdoor Acheivement would be a great capstone to my son's scouting experience (and a great goal to keep him involved after earning Eagle). The hardest one would be aquatics because he is not a strong enough swimmer to do a mile swim (I couldn't either) --

I tend to disagree. Catholic teaching accepts homosexual orientation, but not homosexual acts. That is why Catholics did not have any issue with the standards for scouts because under Catholic interpretation of "morally straight" no scout should be sexually active (heterosexual or homosexual). Catholic units can decide which leaders are selected under the local option. Despite the prognostications of many non-lawyers, a units owned by a Catholic church can bar any person from being a leader based on the group's beliefs. This goes for an Eagle Scout returning form college who is promisc

I give the three minute "coffee cup management" talk to all new parents on campouts (regardless of whether they were scouts when they were younger). Heck, I give the the three minute "advantages of boy-led" talk to any new parents I see at scouting events. If the leadership models boy-led, the parents will follow.

Most dads will follow the example of the leaders. When a boy comes up to me (as an ASM and often the leader in charge of an outing) and I send them to their PL, most dads will do the same (or send them to me and have me send them to their PL). In our troop, we try to have leaders who are not the dads work with kids when needed. Most dads realize that their kids learn better (more easily) from other adults. The dad hat vs the leader hat is tough. My rule is that I try to treat my son the same as other scouts. If anything, I have higher expectations and standards for him because I kno

Our boys have decided that nobody can run for SPL or PL unless they have earned the rank of Star. The SPL selects his ASPL and the ASPL needs to be at least Star. The PLs select their APLs and the requirement is at least First Class That pretty much places the age at around 13 for minimum. However, our elected SPLs have always been patrol leaders before running for SPL. For the past two years and for next year our SPLs are 10th graders. I would prefer 11th graders because the SPLs in our troop have their work cut out for them with four patrols of 12 scouts and monthly outings.

Similar to others, we don't have adults sign off on T through 1st requiements. More senior scouts will sign off for the younger scouts. In our troop, the SM or ASMs only sign off on service hours, scout spirit and SM conference. At summer camp, our scouts working toward 1st Class get a sheet showing what was reviewed. The scouts take that to a Guide, APL, PL ASPL or SPL for sign off.

Also, the rank is earned at the Board of Review and not the Court of Honor. Some Troops wrongly treat it as the CoH date. I know our troop hands out patches at the CoH (three annually) but reflect the rank earned (as it should be) after the BoR.

Coming from a parent of a 12 - soon to be 13 year-old - boy --- please no. The younger boys are very different than girls their age -- the drama for boys is internal (skills, confidence, etc.) where the drama for girls is external (relationships with friends). Boy Scouting at that age allows a safe place to fail and an encouraging place to suceed. Between 11 and 13 these boys make a transition from a child to a young adult. In Scouting, those boys are the center of attention and should be. The T-1st program gives them a sense of accomplishment from learning skills and the outdoor pr

OK. I'll buy that and what Tahawk said. I think what I do is pretty close to being scout-driven. The merit badge session that I do isn't required... I announce that I will be doing it and any scouts that are interested need to get a blue card and sign up with me. I limit it to 8 scouts. The one-day session is "active" "hands-on" and in a "small group" setting. Although our discussions are done as a group (but each boy discusses each topic as part of the group), all demonstrations are individual. There is some instructional teaching - how to use a cooking knife to cut, examples of foo

What does "scout-driven" actually mean? If you go through the requirements, they determine what needs to be done. For example, there are things that the scout must "explain", "describe", "discuss" or "show" to their counselor and requirements that a scout must "do". The scout is supposed to do those, not the counselor (who presumably knows all that already). Those requirements cannot be changed (i.e. "listen" to an explanation or "watch" a demonstration). That being said, how is having an organized structure to complete the requirements at camp or through a troop a bad thing?

In scouting, asking everyone is asking nobody. I remember at a Readyman training, one of the trainers told the boys not to say "someone call 911" but to designate a specific person -- "you in the blue shirt, call 911." Find a specific person and ask them to handle a specific role. Don't make the role see like it is HUGE, but explain what is entailed. For Treasurer, "you just have to cut the checks for events and make the deposits of the annual dues and popcorn money." That seems a lot easier than, "you have to be responsible for all the money." Popcorn Chair is just passing out the

Its funny, we had one scout this summer take the 4 C's (citizenship in world, nation, community and communications) at camp and he loved it more than if he had done any "outdoor" merit badges. That is just his personality. We do counsel the boys to take fun merit badges and not to overload themselves. We discourage taking badges that they will partial due to having requirements that can't be done either before or during camp such as Camping, Backpacking, Hiking, etc. I have the same concerns as a lot of you, but the program seems to be pretty well run. The highlight or me was t

I do agree those aren't lightweight (unless compared to a household stove top and oven). However, I would consider it lightweight for the merit bage if there wasn't an alternative because the skills are transferrable. I actually find that those stoves are more difficult to cook with than the Coleman two burners because you don't have a lot of control at lower temperatures. We use a lot of cast iron (griddles and frying pans) and you need to be able to use lower temperatures to avoid burning food. And yes, the two burner Coleman stoves are exactly what most people will use for family cam

Even though our guys use the second one, I don't have a problem with the first one as a lightweight stove. Really, the skills used are pretty much the same on either the one you use of the Coleman-type stove. I've used the single buner propane type stoves (when I've been camping in the Caribean and you can't transport or buy Isobutane) and I would consider that to be between a lightweight and a backpacking stove.

Interesting blog post. First, I've been unable to find any other source for the warning other than an often quoted but impossible to find University of Illinois press release. Second, a University wouldn't issue a press release without referencing a study or quoting a faculty member. Third, the press release is gramatically incorrect "There is still question about cancer causing breakdown of plastics and their contact with food during cooking" and very poorly written. Fourth, the press release doesn't even identify what carcinogenic compounds could be released like dioxin (which chemicall

Check out the website trailcooking.com. There are recipies there for one pot meals and freezer bag cooking (make your own boil and eat meals). I teach the boys about the options beyond boil and eat such as: 1) Instant Polenta; 2) Instant Couscous; 3) Instant Potatoes; 4) salami and pepperoni; 5) hard cheeses; 6) dehydrated eggs cooked using a One Egg Wonder (my son and I typically have a made from scratch egg, sausage and cheese tortilla); 7) foil packaged tuna and chicken; 8) dehydrated ground beef (I make my own which allows a bunch of variations on sloppy joes, meatball sandwiches and ha

Our problem is that the patrol cooking on campouts is typically done to complete the T-1 cooking requirements. We have around 8 new boys a year, with around 10 outing a year. Three of the outings are not patrol based (i.e. backpacking, canoeing, etc.). One outing we do Troop cooking (due to logistics of transporting gear and space issues preventing he patrols from cooking independently). One of the outings is typically a one day activity. So that is 5 outings with 2 patrols. That gives us around 10 slots for cooking. I suspect next year we will be running three patrols for outings, so t

The trail cooking part is difficult. We didnt have a backpacking trip in the Fall and our Spring trip was cancelled because it was going to be 15 degrees at the end of March. My son completed it by cooking for me on an AT backpacking trip we took by ourselves (seriousy, it doesnt get better than backpacking and having your son cook for you). A couple of guys cooked on 6 to 8 mile hikes but I think that most are still waiting on that for a multi-day backpacking trek. I think that an outdoor program needs at least two backpacking trips during the school year and another summer adventure (bac

Honestly, the trust that results from that makes you more of a leader than those with the titles.

The forums tend to be filled with lots of posts of people complaining that scouting is not what it used to be or what it should be or what it could be. I agree that the program isn't perfect and I see many differences from reading scout book for when my dad was a scout in the 1940s (how many scout books today would teach boys how to fight with sticks -- not that they ever needed teaching). So my question is what can you do or what do you do to make your program better? Tip O'Neal said that all politics is local. My sense is that all scouting is local. So what do you do in your troop to

Ask him a question, "What do you think you need to do for this requirement?" If he says that, "The Counselor said that..." remind him that the question is what HE thinks, not he counselor. Chances are, if he is a typical 12 year old, he will read the requirement verbatim. Then ask him "Can you tell me what you did to fulfil that requirement?" And then follow up with "Do you think that is enough?" If he says that, "The Counselor said that..." remind him that the question is what HE thinks, not he counselor. If the answer is no, then ask him what else he needs to do to feel that he has done