Leehoden

Just now, InquisitiveScouter said:

@Leehoden, that is the National Outdoor Achievement Award (NOAA).  That is something different.  Several NOAAs are required for National Medal for Outdoor Achievement. (NMOA)

Thanks, I didn't realize. 

1 hour ago, mrjohns2 said:

I heard they discontinued the actual medal. Which is sad. If you can’t find one, I’d buy one from eBay. 

We have had several scouts earn this. It is now a center with rockers around it. You can earn gold bars if you earn a certain amount more time in each area. 

I am looking for advice of how other Troops keep track of outings that don't involve camping or hiking? I have tried using scoutbook calendar, but it is very cumbersome, but if it would work well I would do it more. Maybe others have had better experiences or I haven't found the shortcuts? If you log it in scoutbook  can you see it again, through any reports etc? I struggle with keeping track of water minutes, biking miles, etc for the national outdoor awards etc.

Thanks for your input 

44 minutes ago, qwazse said:

 

Books? What are these books you speak of? 
Scouts master skills, demonstrate them to their PL or SPL, who then signs off. We don’t reserve a specific time for it.

 

Sorry should have typed Scoutbook's. We noticed that that wasn't being done. The boys would focus on a skill then not sign off in the Scoutbooks. 

10 hours ago, qwazse said:

@Leehoden, welcome to the forums!

Not to sound too judgmental, but many of us have acquired adult-to-youth translators. Adult “as a troop we were focused” often translates into youth “this is really boring.”

Once most of your boys have achieved 1st class rank, it’s time to stop focusing on advancement and focus on super activities (what others here may call fun and adventure). So, some probing questions:

What game do the boys play before, during, or after meetings?

When was your last really muddy service project?

Which patrol recently was awarded a totem for best camp gadget, best meal, best campfire song?

When was the last SM conference on a trail, overlooking a canyon, at sunset, while the boys were off to fetch water?

You are right. We probably are not doing enough activities. I think we need to provide a list of activities to the leaders and see if they will plan that into the meeting. It would also be a fun and valuable refresher for the older scouts. So do you usually build in time for the scouts to fill out the books towards the end of the meeting? 

This is why I wanted to find a forum, your candidness and information is wonderful. I didn't see it but you are right we are not doing enough games. We are letting the scouts lead but to be honest we went through a couple scoutmasters that took over everything. We are trying to get back to scout lead but I think we lost a lot in that time. The scouts never plan games or anything. Maybe we need to come up with some ideas and provide it to them. Are there any games out there that teach how to follow through on leadership positions or who the report to (PL, ASPL, SPL) etc to kind of begin with the basics? I will try searching other games as well. Any other ideas would be welcome, judgmental or not. We realize we need to make changes, we just have struggled with adult leadership and support from our council because we are so far away, and very few of our leaders were previously scouts. Thank you! 

Hello, I am new here but have been involved in scouting for around 10 years in a very rural area where the next closest Troop is around 100 miles away. We only have contact with other troops during summer camps. I have been the advancement coordinator/committee member for the last 8 years for our Troop.  I have been looking for a place where I can get ideas about how different Troops run, what troops have found effective, etc. We recently lost a lot of scouts because they didn't think we were doing enough fun things. We have a large number of Life Scouts (because as a troop we were focused). However, those scouts are now feeling like to much emphasis is placed on younger scouts ranking up and not enough on them. I am wondering how other Troops find a happy medium. We meet once a week for an hour and we do outdoor activities monthly. Any input is welcome! Thanks!