IndyDad

Along the lines of what curious_scouter mentioned, don't be afraid to bring this up with your Pack committee and re-evaluate. I would suggest talking with the Troop to get a good understanding of what the funds are needed for. I know that our Pack transfers any scout balances over to the Troop when a scout crosses over, but otherwise no additional funds are passed over.

Our Troop has its annual dues that help pay for incurred costs per scout, however we don't ask crossover families to pay for that first year (as it would seem a bit much to say "Hey, welcome to the Troop! By the way, that'll be X dollars to join us!"), when they already paid their national/council fees a few months ago. That said, I could see why a troop might ask for a portion of that year's dues to help pay for any new crossover-purchased items (our Troop supplies the Book, Epaulets, and a Neckerchief as they join the troop, so technically we don't collect fees for those items until the next year).

Crossroads of America council (central Indiana) is going through this as well, except our anticipated fee is $240 annual (or $20/month). Leaders and Parents were both taken back when we heard of this earlier this spring, and the council wisely backed off until they could provide more information on what the need was.

We are getting some good info now... unfortunately a combination of multiple things in the past couple of years have put our council in a big deficit, including (but not limited to) to a large annual loss of grant money. I'm not sure what the right answer is to solve for it, but I fear that asking parents to come up with the money to cover the deficit could end scouting for our council in the near future. I feel like the only way to compete with sporting programs is to be partially funded by local/state tax dollars (like school funds cover things like sports facilities where these sports programs are run out of). 

Did this family per their Scout registration/dues for the 2022 calendar year? If so, then they were paid up till Dec31, 2022 and were delinquent by 2 months at the time of Blue & Gold. We generally treat B&G as an end of year celebration, so if they were part of the Pack until Oct, they still had some activity they participated in that the B&G dinner would cover, date-wise.

In that situation, I would have let them come in and attend. I'd also approach them separately and find out what their intentions were for the rest of the year and also remind them of the annual dues that are required (if nothing else, they need to pay the required national + council dues to be on the roster and covered by council insurance). If they didn't plan to attending any further, then you could drop the case.

Did this family per their Scout registration/dues for the 2022 calendar year? If so, then they were paid up till Dec31, 2022 and were delinquent by 2 months at the time of Blue & Gold. We generally treat B&G as an end of year celebration, so if they were part of the Pack until Oct, they still had some activity they participated in that the B&G dinner would cover, date-wise.

In that situation, I would have let them come in and attend. I'd also approach them separately and find out what their intentions were for the rest of the year and also remind them of the annual dues that are required (if nothing else, they need to pay the required national + council dues to be on the roster and covered by council insurance). If they didn't plan to attending any further, then you could drop the case.

When my son crossed over with his AOL den, the Den Leader sent an example of a plaque that the parents could consider getting (on their own), but the Pack itself did not pay for this. The Den Leader was nice enough to provide out of personalized arrows for each scout (he purchased arrows and then personalized with colored stripes that lined up with the badges they completed throughout their cub scouting career). With the info, I purchased an arrow holder plaque on etsy on my own.

Given the extra cost for such a plaque and not budgeting ahead of time, I would strongly disagree with the parent that the Pack has to cover this. You can suggest to the AOL parents that they can get plaques on their own if they wish (fyi, I would NOT suggest parents present the plaques at Crossover, as not all scouts would have such a plaque and might feel left out).

^ I will say that the Scout Life website has a good set of pages set up for the Programming merit badge that speaks to the requirements much better than any pamphlet could. Includes a list of various Programming languages they can use, along with some sample programs/files to tinker with:

Programming merit badge – Scout Life magazine

that site became the 'pamphlet' that my son could follow along with when he was learning the basics of his three languages.

As the dad of a First Class scout and myself now a Merit Badge Counselor for a couple of badges, I find the topic of Merit Badge Pamphlets a bit confusing from a BSA standpoint. When my son initially crossed-over, I had seen the term 'merit badge pamphlet' and read that you could purchase them but thought they were just printed versions of the Badge Requirements pdf found on Merit Badges | Boy Scouts of America (scouting.org), which had me questioning why an 8 page printed form cost $5 or $6. It wasn't until I was browsing the official BSA store when I found out about the full pamphlets. 

But the cost and overall accessibility of the pamphlets seems a bit off. They now run $6 per printed version OR online(pdf) version. While I don't have an issue with paying for physical things or the time it takes to research and build out the pdf, it seems anti-scouter friendly to charge the same amount for the printed version vs the pdf. And why not include the pdf version if you buy the printed version? I'd like to see our troop have current copies of all eagle-required badges (we used to many years ago), and that's around $100 or so out of our budget. Add more if want other popular badges. Buying every single badge pamphlet would be unrealistic (135 badges or so x $6 = no thank you). Why not make the pdf versions $1 or $2 to let scouts access their badge resources easier? Our local libraries stopped carrying these, so that avenue is no longer available.

How do other troops approach this? Do you try to buy a copy of all and loan out? Do you make scans and let scouts print out their own copies? Do you require troop counselors buy a copy for each badge their cover?

Thanks for confirming, all. I find it odd that a number of the advice online from scouts who have done this badge suggest going for the Mountain Biking portion simply because of the shorter distance. I went with my son's troop last year as part of a mountain biking activity, and it was definitely NOT easy. My son and I who had never mountain-biked before took well over an hour just to do 2 miles. This included a lot of walking the bike over very high tree roots that our bikes couldn't clear and extremely narrow paths right next to steep ravines. I don't think I'd recommend that experience to anyone (at least, not this particular trail) and would strongly push for the longer-mileage road bike option of this badge. The thinking of, mountain biking = shorter distance = easier to complete is not accurate, in my opinion.

Looking at the Cycling badge and Requirement 7 - Road Biking vs Mountain Biking options, I'm trying to figure out how a paved bike trail fits in while I help schedule some upcoming outings for my son's troop. We have a couple of long mileage paved bike trails in our state that would seemingly be a good fit for part of the requirements. These are trails separated from the road but do cross the road at various intersections where the cyclist has to stop and be observant of oncoming traffic.

Would such a bike trail count as 'road biking' or 'mountain biking'? In my view, they are are more road biking, as it uses flat paved paths that are good for both speed and long mileage... a road bike would be the more appropriate style bike on this trail. While the cyclist isn't riding right alongside traffic, they do have to observe traffic at the intersections. It's definitely not a mountain biking experience.

I watched one eagle scout's video on youtube describe his cycling badge, and it showed his troop riding a similar trail - he referred to his experience as 'mountain biking' because it consisted of a 'trail' and they went on a dirt trail during a small portion of the 22mile ride.

On 9/14/2021 at 12:28 PM, qwazse said:

If you have a scout with a baseball, and an old house, you have needed a pane of glass replaced! Yes, blinds can be made/replaced/fitted/repaired to your house.  With old artwork, the paper backing can wear off of antique frames.  Waterproofing is often a matter of reshaping a lawn or cleaning out clogged drains. But, we've also had our kids digging and chinking!

If scouts do take you up on this badge, your are about to learn a lot of what a scout can do!

Some "new house" projects:

• Run Cat-6 cable safely through a house to avoid tripping hazards, etc ... splice a connector on cable. .
• Replace an outlet with wall-mounted USB ports.
• Check the water temperature/pressure on the house main.
• Install a wireless router, determine it's optimal location, tune it to avoid interference with neighbor's signals.
• Install a rainwater collector. Test the quality of collected water and determine appropriate uses for it.
• Safely replace incandescent fixtures with LED.
• Install energy-saving timer switches.
• Help program a "smart" thermostat.

That's what I like about this badge, there are lots of possibilities.

I like the newer ideas you listed and would consider those. (not sure on the wireless router... I'd suggest the parent set that up, along with the security settings and password). 

I feel like this badge does need to be updated though on its list of suggested projects (as others have mentioned). For instance, most homes could benefit from some newer electrical/smart device installation, but if you follow the list of 'categories' that the scout has to perform the required number of projects, the Electrical category would get filled up pretty quick for these newer types of projects.

- Home exterior or perimeter (x4)

- Wood/furniture  (x3)

- Electrical  (x2)

- Water (x2)

- Home Interior (x3)

Oh well, thanks for confirming that some of the items are more suited to older homes, and that as Merit Badge Counselors we can approve other types of projects not listed.

I'm a dad to a scout who crossed over this year from cub scouts and was considering being a merit badge counselor for this badge. In my opinion, this is a very useful badge to pursue for general life prep (the Arrow of Light related badge was also pretty handy to know). A couple of the possible projects though had me scratching my head on how the scout would perform these:

- Replace a pane of glass
The only windows I've come across recently have been double-paned sealed windows that the average homeowner wouldn't replace on their own. Maybe this project is more common with older houses having single-pane windows?

- Waterproof a basement

How in the world does a scout (or homeowner) waterproof their basement on their own? I'm envisioning a home builder installing drain tile and a sump pit system, along with waterproof sealant on the exterior of basement walls (before the ground is filled in around the basement). Could use some clarification on what is suggested by this one.

- Replace window blind cords / Repair or replace a window sash cord

Are these items that an individual can generally replace? I'm not aware of these cords just giving out, and if they did what you would do besides replacing the blinds.

- Reinforce a picture frame.

I've hung many a picture frame over my years, but I'm not sure what it means to reinforce a frame. Does this refer to frames that are falling apart?

---------

I was initially concerned that the project list is too limiting and reliant on the scout having access to items that are in need of repair, but the opening page does mention having some leeway on what can count (from the badge pamphlet):

Quote

"This book provides a good overview of home-repair projects, but it is by no means a complete reference. For some requirements, space does not permit going into construction details or listing all possible repair variations. Therefore, any new construction or installation or completion of a similar project (for example, any toilet repair or adjustment) qualifies as achieving the requirement so long as the Boy Scout understands and demonstrates the basic concepts involved"