Summitdog

From my discussions with National, it is my understanding that it applicable to units.   There seems to be more confusion about the new award than with the old Hornaday Award, which was rather unknown and confused in my local council.

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

That is a very slippery slope.  By your reasoning, through today's lens (or the lens we would have foisted upon us by certain factions), we actually should remove any honors for many of the founders of this country.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery-1269536

We should judge people based on their own times, not ours...

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We are really getting off topic.  The criteria for the various awards have changed drastically,i.e., the unit award is reviewed and awarded by National (no longer within the jurisdiction of the council).  Can we focus on these types of topics rather than the useless mental exercise being displayed above?

4.2.3.6 Fulfilling More Than One Requirement With a Single Activity

From time to time it may be appropriate for a Scout to apply what was done to meet one requirement toward the completion of another. In deciding whether to allow this, unit leaders or merit badge counselors should consider the following.

When, for all practical purposes, two requirements match up exactly and have the same basic intent—for example, camping nights for Second Class and First Class ranks and for the Camping merit badge—it is appropriate and permissible, unless it is stated otherwise in the requirements, to use those matching activities for both the ranks and the merit badge.

The question came up because my youngest son is in cub scouts and is working on his Parvuli Dei.  Naturally, a little sibling rivalry came into play. 

Thanks everyone for your responses.  I did not know about the Adobe function that allows Stephen Hawking read to my son. 

Scotty

Wow!  That is quite the achievement.  

My son is a boy scout who is entering the sixth grade, has not started/completed the Parvuli Dei.  The rub is my son is 11 years old and a scout.  From my reading, he is not eligible for the emblem.  Additionally, because he has not completed the 6th grade and he is not 13 years old he may not work towards the Ad Altare Dei emblem.  So as it stands, he is just in a holding pattern for a couple of years.  Does everyone agree?

Scotty

21 hours ago, goldnloks said:

Hey Scotty actually there is a solution.  Many troops scan their pamphlets and keep them on line in PDF format.  All you have to do is open them click play and they are read to you. 

I'd love to learn more about this procedure.  I have Adobe Acrobat Pro (older version) but I don't see a audible reader function.  Is it on a new version?  Are you having some Google function read the PDF?  If we can do that, it would be very helpful.  (a quick cursory search I found voice dream reader.  Is this what you are using?  :  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voice-dream-reader/id496177674

If your son wants to read the various pamphlets and upload them onto the troop website in a downloadable format that could be very helpful for scouts outside of his troop.  I know I would ask for access and promote it to other parents with children with reading difficulties. 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I hope to find something that works better than what we currently have. 

Scotty

Congratulations to this young scout.  It reads like he is very motivated to stay in the scouts even after meeting his initial goal of making Eagle.   Where I am located, most scouts are less motivated to make eagle for the sake of making eagle and only finish eagle in order to "check the box" on their college application.  Their motivation is not wrong, just different.  

Scotty

2 hours ago, goldnloks said:

Yes it is true they have the pamphlet but they only have a few, they have multiple of each, don’t have all the eagles and the important component is they are all outdated.  So unfortunately it doesn’t do a scout any good.  We have learning ally and it’s a bit more complicated than a recommendation from a teacher.  

Goldnloks, I agree that Learning Ally does not have the latest versions of the MB pamphlets nor all of the books.  I believe that this is largely the responsibility of BSA as there are copyright licenses that need to be addressed.  While Learning Ally is not a perfect solution, or the best imaginable, it is the best I can find.  Goldnloks, do you have an alternative recommendation?

Scotty

On 10/22/2010 at 1:30 PM, jr56 said:

My son did the work for a Silver Medal, the awards committe awarded him the Bronze. Still a notable achievement.

Does anyone know if once a scout earns a Bronze Medal may they reapply for the Silver Medal after completing another project?

Karen,

If you have not already submitted your paper, here are a few notes:

I

PLEASE DO:

-       find out if the scout/family wants the scout to advocate for themselves

-       be as discreet as possible when accommodating the difference (but not in such a way that the scout believes they should be ashamed)

Please DON’T:

-- blame poor parenting / home life / single mom (Single Parent)

You may wish to address what is probably one of the most common situation a leader will encounter, a child with untreated ADHD.  Some parents either do not recognize that the scout may have ADHD or have chosen not to use conventional treatment (medication) to address the issue.  It is important for the leader(s) to know how best to approach the parent in a disarming manner to at least begin the conversation.  A leader may also have stress balls or fidget spinners to help the scout from being disruptive during the meeting.

Scotty

Samuel,

The handbook may be signed off by a scout ranked first class or higher or by a scouter. 

Scotty

My son got motivated to arrow out early after he saw a boy in his old pack arrow out.  (It was a case of negative emotion turned positive.  The other boy always picked on my son and when my son saw him arrow out on time my son decided he could to it too.)  In short, my son was 10.5 yrs old, been with the scouts for more than 6 months (since first grade) AND completed all of the AOL requirements. 

His troop has embraced him despite being young.  (It is important to find the right troop too).  He has about 1 year in with his troop and he already has 11 nights of camping and loves it. 

The moral of the story is: It should be the scout's decision, not the parent's.

Scotty

I intended to be a shooting sports instructor for a week but BSA requires all volunteers to commit to the full two weeks, which I cannot do.  (That seems pretty demanding from volunteers). It is my understanding that there is a shortage of shooting sport instructors too.  I am certified as a Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol instructor and a certified Range Safety Officer so I could fill in where necessary.  I just hope that scouts will not miss out on shooting sports opportunities because of lack of staffing.

Scotty

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the councils are very active in giving scouts the opportunity to work towards their shooting sports badge(s).  As a certified CA Hunter Safety Instructor, a BSA Merit Badge Counselor for rifle, shotgun and pistol (Venture), I have been developing a two day Hunter Safety Course for scouts that will allow them to be signed off on the Rifle Merit Badge and receive partial for Fish and Wildlife Management.  My local council was initially not very receptive to the idea but there may be some appreciation for it developing. 

Scotty

7 minutes ago, TMSM said:

Did your SM allow your son to attend this workshop without a some warning about what he was gettin to? I would think that when he went to get a blue card the SM would help him prepare.

My son picked up his blue card at the last meeting before the Xmas break.  It was, to say the least, a bit busy and the SM didn't really get into the particulars about an out of council workshop. 

Thank you for the input and insight.  The impetus for my question is that my son, who has profound dyslexia, participated in an eight hour Environmental Science Merit Badge workshop.  The online registration process did not allow for any notes about a scout's dietary restrictions, medical issues, or special needs.  The workshop consisted of 16 scouts and one scouter (MBC).  The format of the workshop was lecture, extensive note taking and "filling in the blanks" of the ES merit badge worksheet (which was required even though the worksheet itself says it cannot be used as a requirement).  My son told the instructor of his learning difference, which he said he would do what he could, and then continued with the program of note taking.  At the end, the MB counselor made my son wait until he had every other scout signed off and then started to ask my son questions from his empty worksheet.  Realizing that the process was going to take longer than he wanted, he abruptly ended the questions, told my son go back to his council, do it there, and refused to sign off on requirements. 

It seemed to me that the council was ill-prepared for the workshop and put the MBC in a very difficult situation without the skillset to handle it.

Scotty

Is there a policy or recommendation of scouts to merit badge counselor ratio?  If so, could you please direct me to where I can find it?

Thanks,

Scotty

23 minutes ago, goldnloks said:

 So I recently learned if you can get a PDF file of a book on the computer you can have it read to you, still have to try this out.  But I find it absolutely insane that BSA does not have audio books for those scouts with reading disabilities, or are visually impaired. 

that is great information.  I did not know that.  Thank you very much.

Additional problems with Learning Ally is that the books are "old versions" as BSA regularly updates the requirements and produces new handbooks.  We ran into that problem last week when I numbered the blue card requirements as listed in the handbook I just purchased from the local BSA store only to find out it, too, was out of date. 

Thank you again for the information,

Scotty

The elephant in the room is the detrimental reliance the troop, vendors and participants have based upon the agreement(s) and promises made by the school. 

It is great that the football team made it to where they are.  That does not give the school the right to damage others in the preparation to move forward with the goal of the state championship.  Noteworthy is that other sports teams were going to bump the troop from the gym too.  It appears to be all academic bc the event has been cancelled. 

AVTech, the number of events available really depends on the troop and council.  My son's troop/council regularly has events, e.g., flag planting on memorial day at a National Cemetery,  food drives, visiting veterans at VA hospital on Veterans day, trail to first class overnights, so getting those events would not be a problem, if the scout is motivated. 

Scotty

I completely get that.  There will likely not be another location at the facility that will be appropriate.  Because it is a public facility, there are surely rules and regulations governing the use of the facilities.  An assertive letter from an attorney noting the anticipated losses from the troop and vendors because of the administrations disregard for the policies in place may get the administration's attention. 

Scotty

Did someone at the troop level drop the ball by not communicating with the school after the offer for other options??  It appears the school realizes the inconvenience but is trying to make accommodations. 

Scotty