KenD500

My district does the following for me & my unit:

-  District Training Chair is a great trainer.  The training he provides is useful.  If he can't teach it, he'll find someone who can.

-  Round Table is a directed discussion of topics.  Some of the topics I have no clue about and learn; other topics I'm knowledgeable and can help others.  I also enjoy the exchange of ideas with other SMs.

-  District Exec/District Chair/District Commissioner have local contact that help us with recruiting & event planning.

-  District Advancement Chair keeps us up to date on the latest things coming from Council / National.  Some of the things I find on my own thru this & other forums, some are new.

-  District Events help us with recruiting and our District Camporee is fun! 

-  Unit Commissioner - we just met our new one last month.  So far, he's been useful - he's a ASAIC for the local ATF division and talked with the Scouts about duties/responsibilities of a US citizen.

The District can be a useful entity.  I am fortunate with the amount of effort the people put into Scouting in our area.  They are welcoming to new people and willing to help.  I help with events when I can.  As the Scout Oath says - to help other people at all times.

We're currently using "age based" patrols.  There's two patrols - 1 ranging from 15-16 yrs old, the other ranging from 10-12 yrs old. 

When we started talking about splitting into 2 patrols based on our size, the Scouts fell into these groups by themselves.  This is how they separated themselves for games & it was natural for them.

In the past, we've had it on a Sunday afternoon.  We would use it to plan a month's worth of meetings plus have some Patrol Leader training. 

Starting in June, we're moving it to the Monday after camp out.  We do not have regularly scheduled Troop meetings on that night.  Now we use that night for committee & PLC meetings.

His remark about not revoking the charter of a Council defying the current membership standard raised a question.  What is the current approval process for a Council charter?  Who approves it?  How often do they re-charter? 

Small Troop in Texas - most recent game:  Beach Ball Elbow Relay - each Patrol has a beach ball. 

The game is played in 3 rounds.

1st round:  Pairs of Scouts from the Patrol hold the beach ball with only their elbows (one elbow each) and then race to the other side of the gym and back.  There they pass the beach ball to the next pair.  If the ball is dropped, the pair starts over.

2nd round: individual Scouts from the Patrol hold the ball with only their elbows and hop on 1 foot to the other end of the gym and back.  The ball is then passed off to the next individual.

3rd round:  entire Patrol carries beach ball with all of their elbows touching.  Race to the other side of the gym and back.

The Scouts loved the game and have put it on the "try again" list.

1st Son went to the Troop his Pack fed.    2nd Son had a lot of choices. 

Based on experiences from 1st Son, his mother & I set a few criteria:

1.  had to be within 6 mile radius of our house; we knew it would be more than 1 meeting/week.  Sometimes up there 2-3 times / week.

2.  a current & useful communication stream (newsletter, website, etc)

Questions for the Scout to answer:

1.  Are the meetings fun?

2.  Are the people friendly?

Son #2 visited 2 Troops that met our criteria (out of 8).  1st one the Scouts told the visitors they weren't needed/wanted.  (That Troop had huge growth the year before).  2nd Troop was fun.

We had our 2nd CoH last night.  1st CoH for the new Scouts.  Big difference - 1st we had 4 Scouts present, 2nd we had 8.  The only talking I did for this one was the SM Moment at the end.

Progress (however slight) is being made.

I had a Scout earn the National Outdoor award - Camping last night.  My advancement chair had problems getting it at the Scout shop as no one knew anything about it.

Link to award

I've only seen 1 other Scout in this area with the award.  Do your Scouts earn this?  Are they aware of it?

I'm finally able to log on and see posts.  I tried the sign in via Google option.