AnotherDad

I am sorry you had that experience, luckily I have never been in a similar situation. The den leaders or parents submitted a list of 5 activities from a list of about 15 requirements and electives. You were guaranteed 3 of the 5, but you didn't know which ones until you arrived. For us, "Earth Rocks" was a geology and rock experimentation activity. Into the Woods / Into the Wild was a combined activity that included a hike, discussion of plants and animals, and even discussion/demonstrations of what plants are edible. We also had a conservation project where the kids planted seeds in a field t

One of our council camps held a Webelos Camporee (Webelosree) this past weekend. I thought it went well with about 180 scouts attending. This involved a full day of activities on Saturday, camping Saturday night, and a morning activity on Sunday before closing ceremony at 11:30am. Most of the activities were oriented toward completion of requirements or electives, but some were just for fun. I had a combined group of nine scouts from the Webelos and AOL dens, missing only two from the pack. This was a very efficient and effective way of completing adventures since the activity leaders all had

As an update, the activity day went very well. We completed Cast-Iron Chef, Webelos Walkabout, Outdoor Adventurer (Option B), and even got most of Castaway completed. However since I originally posted this I lost most of my Webelos den. One moved away and two dropped out to pursue sports, leaving me with only two. The AOL leader and his son decided they didn't want to come back this year, so I took on both dens (I have a son in each den). Having Webelos and AOL at the activity day made it even better. I had an adult from each den who helped since the activities were slightly different. I alrea

At one camping themes pack meeting I included a station that includes sleeping bags with backpacker style sleeping mat along side a car camping style air mattress so the kids could try them out and see the difference. They had to answer two questions: 1) Which is more comfortable? 2) Which one would you want to carry for a long distance?

Our small pack has struggled with getting parents to volunteer. The Cubmaster has been doing three or four jobs. In May and June we sent out emails and asked for help at the end of year pack meeting. Only one adult stepped up. We really thought that we would not be able to re-charter this year because we didn't have enough adults. Through my travels (BALOO or maybe on this forum) I was given the seed of an idea that ended up working well, so I wanted to share. During our first pack meeting of the school year (tonight), adults were asked to fill out a small name tag to stick to their shirt whe

Not very realistic or desirable in my opinion. I considered this for my own sons, but after two years found that they are somewhat neutral to earning belt loops/pins. As long as they get to participate in recognition events, they seem happy. They would rather run around playing tag on the playground with their den than doing an adult led activity for the sake of earning an elective. It turns out that earning electives was more important to me than it was for them. Another hint for me was that only one other scout in my den completed any of the optional electives on their own, although I encour

I am using Target Up and Up brand clear portion control snack sized (3.5x6") zip lock bags and trying to keep everything as flat as possible to easily fit in cargo pant side pockets or the outermost pocket of a backpack. There is not too much in each and I have yet to calculate the costs, but I suspect it could not be more than $6 each for the kids ($36 for the den). Bandaids of a few sizes, 3x3 Gauze pad, Wet One packet, Medi-first antiseptic wipe packet, Saftec antibiotic packet, Banana Boat Sunscreen packet, Walgreens bite and sting relief packet, popsicle stick wrapped in medical tape, and

Thank You. That’s what I needed.

I logged into my.Scouting to see if there were any new courses. I recall reading somewhere about new ones being posted. I was a bit surprised to see four positions that had 0% complete for training. These appear to be the same positions that were there before (Den Leader, Cub Master, Pack Committee Member, PC Chair). My Learning tab shows all of the courses I completed last fall, but some of them have a blue "New" box. I am trying to figure out what the expectation is for completing these new courses. It seems crazy that I would have to redo position specific training I just completed 5 m

Thanks for the feedback. @Eagledad I will certainly seek out a local troop to help. I don't know anyone in the troop and I don't think we have any Den Chiefs in the pack, but I think some of the other leaders have older kids in Scouts so they might be able to make the introductions. @ParkMan yes, you read that correctly. I am not sure of all the reasons our pack is different and has dens meet infrequently, but I was told that it was to accommodate families with multiple activities and so that it is less demanding on the leaders. However its not set in stone and I have the freedom to sch

I am looking ahead to Webelos later in the year. Instead of meeting once a month for 60-75 minutes at the local elementary school (our pack norm), I am planning to have all-day (likely Saturday) activities at the local park where we can work on an entire adventure or multiple portions of several adventures all in one day. I reserved a small lodge at the park with the thought that we could do some outdoor cooking, fire starting, first aid, hiking, etc. Does anyone have any experience bringing the kids together for all-day (6+ hours) activities instead of (or in addition to) short den meet

I have noticed my own tendency to want to change how things are done or be critical of some of the other scout leaders. When I completed my training and recognized just how far my pack had deviated from recommended practice, the urge to point all of this out to the other leaders began to strengthen. Then I completed some face-to-face training and had the chance to hear from other leaders who were doing great things and again I had the urge to tell my CM about how everyone else was doing things and suggest that we should try some of them. It takes a conscious effort not to act on these thoughts

Our pack does not have instructor led training. In Fall 2018 I completed everything online and this took about 6-8 hours split up over a week. I found it a bit tedious in online format, but it worked. I learned quite a bit, including recognizing all of the things the previous den leader did not do (like wear a uniform) and the things our pack does differently than is suggested by training. I then attended BALOO which was maybe 10 hours of instruction and an overnight camp-out at the council camp. I learned a little more about the background behind Leave No Trace and got a lot out of campfire p