Eagle94-A1

Because of the way the LDS program works, Webelos and AOL will need to remain together and doable within a year. As for the 2 Duty to God requirements, no where in the book that I've read so far says Webelos Duty to God requirement must be earned in 4th grade and the AOL Duty to God requirement can only be earned in 5th grade. Again, the way the LDS program works, they must work on both awards at the same time.

Why I always say a sign of a good troop is the number of older Scouts who are still active, especially is they are already Eagle and don't have that as an incentive to stick around. I know I stuck around after turning 18. I had friends in college who were active whenever they could with the troop.

When I not chilling out in an arm immobilzer and doing "Pain and Torture," I'm a medical librarian at a small rural hospital.

Please keep posting comments and ideas please. More tools in my arsenal, the better job I can do. Stosh mentions PLs and giving them responsibility. One responsibility I want to give them is the ability to sign off T-2-1 Requirements up to their own rank. Challenge at the moment is that all of the PLs are Scout. The troop has been more focused on the "Outing" and less so on advancement. We have guys in the troop 2, 3 years, and are still Scout, even after going to summer camp and being active. Troop has gotten into "advancement mode" due to Philmont. Funny thing is with the exception of the 30 days of exercises and showing improvement, Most of the stuff up to First Class has been done for some of these folks. One PL is going for Second Class and First Class BOR next week. Another is going for Tenderfoot and Second Class. So I see this happening finally. But I admit I have mixed emotions on this. Long story short, instead of preparing for camporee, we are focusing on T-2-1 requirements this month. SPL had Scouts buddy up and working on advancement. One of the PLs was having challenges. Part of me wonders will he be able to do the job? Part of me wonders is it because the SPL sprung it on him at the last minute? On a positive note, this is one of the Scouts who, when asked if he thought he met the mile long compass course requirement a few months back, said no he and the others needed more practice. You don't know how proud I was of the group when they said that. In regards to youth led troop being more organized, I was fortunate to be in an established youth-led troop. By established I mean we had been around for 20+ years, and had an older scout patrol, called the Leadership Corps at the time,and they ran things. Mostly 14 - 17 year olds who had "been there, done that, got the patch," and had the ability to control teh behavior of everyone with 6 words, " You're wasting your game time, gentlemen." I think one reason why we were able to keep our guys active until 18, and even beyond as ASMs, was becasue the adults gave us ownership of the troop.

I admit I have not looked at all the details. But from the literature it takes 14 months to get both the Webelos Badge, and AOL Badge. I'd focus on the Webelos Badge, then as soon as they finish, start working on AOL. Unless you are LDS, then I would either work on both at the same time, or skip Webelos and go directly to AOL. IMHO the powers that be didn't really think through the Webelos program full when they came up with it. I bet we see some updates in the years to come.

Correct. Liek everyone is saying. baby steps.

Stosh, Sorry about the confusion. The meds I'm back on are messing up my cognative ability. Can't wait to be off them for that aspect. But it's great having NO pain whatsoever.

Thankfully summer camp is taken care of. Older Scouts are going to Philmont, the rest of the Scouts are going to a summer camp they never have been to before: our council's camp. On a positive note, SPL is starting to take charge. Slowly but surely.

Sometimes it's due to grades. I know I know I keep mentioning band, but at the HS I went to, the different sports were considered PE, and they got a grade. During the season, they got out of PE class, with the intention that they did homework. that doesn't happen around here, but may elsewhere. Sometimes parents put the pressure. Sometimes they are reliving their childhood. Sometimes there is a hope of getting that scholarship and goign to college. Scouting doesn't have as many scholarships as sports. Sometimes it's peer pressure. Sometimes it's boredom. if you are in a troop that does the same thing over and over and over again, yeah it gets boring.

My thoughts. 1) YOUR SON (emphasis) should contact the old troop and get a copy of the records, even if they turned it in to the new troop. His rank, his responsibility. 2) YOUR SON needs to bug the heck out of the SM to the point of providing COPIES (emphasis again) of his signed portion of the blue card. Squeaky wheel get the oil so to speak. 3) YOUR SON needs to contact the council office and get a copy of his records ASAP (yep emphasis). I've seen too many times where paperwork that was turned in to a council and council either had the wrong dates or didn't put it into the records. Grant you I've dealt with this a lot on the Cub Scout level, but dealt with one case where the Eagle Candidate was denied the EBOR by the Council because in reviewing their records, he was listed as a First Class Scout. 4) Your son can start work on his project as soon as he gets Life. I too recommend getting the project completed as soon as you earn Life because I've known too many people wait to the last minute and either do projects that meet the requirements, but know they could have done a better job if they didn't wait to the last minute, or not get Eagle as a result of the project. In one case the Life Scout had 56 MBs. In another case, the Scout waited so long to do the project, he appealed all they way up to national for an extension to do the project. It was denied.

Closest i've come to giving a patrol a menu is this cook book: http://www.macscouter.com/cooking/docs/PHLMNTCB.pdf Gave every patrol one.

SO TRUE! I've had multiple encounters where a council's records were incorrect because the person imputing the data was using the date they were placing the reports into the computer and not the date the award was actually earned. Also encountered where the council records were never inputted the data at all, but that is mostly on the Cub Scout side of things but still affected one Eagle I know. In all instances, the Boy Scout Hand Book advancement sign off pages, or photocopies in my case , were used to correct the council's records. Took over a month after passing my EBOR to get the council's records corrected, and forwarded to national for approval.

Someone mentioned band. In these parts, you miss a band fuction, you lose points on grade.

Yep, I that will be the case. One thing I'm hopinng will happen is to use ''ego'' i.e. you guys have been to Philmont, and if you want to similar trips, I need. your help to get everyone else up to speed.

Yep it's what we call Sunday School. Stands for Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, but sometimes known as Catechism. My middle son freaked out when I told him I did CCD only 1 year. When he asked how, told I went to parochial school and had theology classes everyday.

I was told the pin for the Light of Christ award was the youth's lapel pin. Both boys wore it on the suits for First Communion. The "Parents' Pins" were originlly "Mother's Pins, and would go on a ribbon that the ladies wore. Name changed some time in the 1990s, except for the one in the Eagle Presentation Kit. That is still called a mother's pin since the there isa tie tac for dad. As for the Council Pin, if you go to jamo, you are authorized to wear it onthe hat, hence hat pins. I actually mounted my pins for dispay in my office. Unfortunately I haven't found them since the last move

I admit, I let son skip CCD when the troop camps, Next year, however wil be confirmation, and I'll be doing some travelling. But I too have seen it where sports comes before church. I have a problem withthat.

Unfortunately nowhere. Only pins authorized for. the uniform are Sea Badge trident, Powder Horn, the Emegency Prep pin, and various knot devices. In all honesty, when I worked for national supply and had to wear pins, it was a major pain, litteraly and figuratively.

Back. One concern is tring to change the culture, and the Scouts just going along with it without them thinking about it, offering ideas to improve, etc. Basicically being a bunch of automatons, and going along with it. I want them to OWN the change. Not be just adult led. Hence the 'Balance" in the title. Ok,I'll be back

I know on the HS level, sports counted as a PE class, and band was a music class. It affected your grades. But a club sport? My oldest had something similar happen.His martial arts class started demanding he compete in compitions, attend workshops, etc. And that was way too much for a 7 year old.

Way my old troop ran the SPL job, he ran it all. He made sure everyone did their job. He mentored and counseled PLs, made sure instructors were ready to go, etc. More organizational and planning than hands on. More later

Back. My personal game plan is the following. 1) Talk to my friend who is suppose to take over. He's been with the troop since it was recreated, and has provided some vision as evidenced by us going to Philmont. But between his job, the Cub Scout pack, and upcoming nuptials, i do not think he has the time. So I want to talk and make sure I'm not stepping on anyones toes. Plus I will need his support with my evil plans 2) Talk to COR/CC about the switch. 3) If all approved, then talk to the Scouts. Try to get them to support the changes.

NYLT is out for at least 2016 as the only ones olde enough to go are Philmont bound. A litte info about the troop. 3 patrols. Olders Scouts, 13-14 years, 3 First Class, 1 Second class,and 3 Scouts Patrol of 12-13 yos who have been in at least a year if not longer and are probably the best run. 1 Tenderfoot, rest Scout. NSP All Scout Scouts did the annual planning. 3 activities "pushed" by the adults. January is a lockin with either ILS-T or First Aid Review, in addition to climbing ( Scouts have said don't mess with their climbing ) Council Camporee and District Camporee are the other 2 adult pushed events. And with the ringamarole the district camporee is making the Scouts do, there is talk among the adults of seeingif the Scouts even want to do it. BUT that is my #1 change. Right now the annual plan is calendar year, not school year. So the first 6 months we don't have many conflicts. HOWEVER fall tends to have a lot of them Last year we postponed one camp out because only 4 Scouts could go do to school extracurricuals. We are not using the troop meeting plans and that is one thing I want to change. Prior to me switching over from CS to BS, the SM did the bulk of the instructing. Whenever i could, I've tried to get the youth to do the instructing. SPL was out of town when we started workingon backpacking, left no instructions, so I got the Tenderfoot NSP member who has more miles on his feet than I do . OK Dad helped a bit too. Dad brought his toys as well to let the Philmont bound feel how a week-10 day trek will feel, and also to answer questions the Scout couldn't answer, which wasn't much. We haven't had a lot of adults helping out until recently. Most are doing doble duty with Cubs. More later

Well being out of work has given me a lot of time to think about my son's troop. Most of you know that the troop has had issues in leadership, specifically an SM with health issues trying to get the troop organized and going with little weekly help from other leaders because most of the ASMs are also Cub Leaders and the troop and pack meet on the same nite. So it's been intersting. SM, in trying to get things up to speed has done more adult lead than youth led. I've worked some with the Dec-May SPL and a bit with the May-Dec SPL to try and get things more youth led, and more intersting than "lectures" Some of that has been me and other adults talking about skills, but on a few occasions we had a Scout do it. My personal favorite was the 11y.o. Tenderfoot who has more backpacking miles than I do doing a class on Backpacking class.Those going to Philmont next year didn't take him seriously at first. They know better now. Anyway the challenges with the troop really hit me when we had a Webelos visit the troop and I talked to him afterwards. He told me that it didn't seem like a real Boy Scout troop with lack of uniforms, lack of patrol spirit, etc, but just like a camping club. And in thinking about it, he's right. I'm going to talk to my friend who is suppose to take over as SM as soon as he can find a replacement CM. I really don't think will have the time committment to be SM since A) he will be a newlywed again and B) Stepson will be a Tiger. if he's agreeable, I may take over as SM once I am out of this imobilizer and I can be active again. If this happens, there are things I want changed that may upset some of the "older" Scouts. I want them to take on more responibility instead of just goofing off. I want patrol spirit. I want uniforms. I want them to be proud to be Scouts. BUT I do not want to take over and run the troop and be a dictator. Any advice?