christineka

I think someone mentioned recycling my son's unfinished wood projects. I think that may work- I believe we have enough wood from what was supposed to be a tool box for each boy to make a set of tangrams. I like tangrams because we could talk about the history and the boys could make the different shapes out of their set.

I looked into making frames from trim. It was really expensive- unless I did my calculations incorrectly.

I am the admin of the freecycle group. I've got leftover 2 x 4 pieces offered so far.

I have a really old girl scout handbook I picked up at a yard sale. It's full of useful information- out of doors, and indoors stuff. I am a bit of a hoarder... I have my old girl scout handbook (also has useful info in it), my brother's webelos book, and my husband's bear book. (From reading the webelos' book and talking to my dad (old scouter), I finally figured out why the old guy at webelos' camp said the boys were earning most of outdoorsman at his station, but in reality only marked off one requirement for the badge.)

Rubber band shooter sounds like a good boy thing. I cannot imagine that gluing the clothespin to the wood is going to work for long. Any ideas on how to attach it so that it will last a while? Screw it on?

Primary presidency has told us that they want nothing more to do with scouts, so not to bug them. I'm looking into stuff. The boys need to learn about tool safety, do the wooden projects, and make a frame. They've already completed projects out of other materials. I checked the leader how-to book. I guess we could make frames from craft sticks. Kinda overused, but we could do it.

I like that giant jenga set. I will see if I can get enough, long enough scraps rounded up.

committee member pointed out that the boys need not earn every badge, so she recommending just skipping it. Her husband had volunteered to help, but she says he's too busy. I have other helpers lined up, though.

The cc member told me to supply plans to the families and tell them craftsman was an at-home badge. Seeing as how I have to get guys to come in to help with this badge, it's definitely not going to work as an at-home badge for my kid. We have pieces to past wood projects still sitting in our house, not assembled.

LDS scouting can require no dues and no materials or anything. It's all paid for by the church. (The members do pay tithing to the church, then it is disbursed.) So these projects don't have to be anything difficult? The description made it sound like they shouldn't be as easy as the wolf projects. We could easily cut these into triangles and call them door stops. Maybe we could cut the block down a little before attaching the clothespin and have them whittle a groove in the end for the rubber band?

Great info! I hadn't thought of mixing frosting. That would be much less expensive than mixing acrylic paint. (We did acrylics last time and I had a heart attack every time a boy squeezed paint out of the tube. I bought the expensive paint for my family and let the cubs use it because I knew the cost would never be approved by the cub committee.) I know the grocery store bakery has tours for preschool kids. I will call and see if they'd allow cub scouts.

The one-member cub committee has told me that I am not allowed to spend any money to buy materials for craftsman. (I'm really irked at this because I know there are ample funds, which will not go with us to 2014. If we don't spend them, they will disappear and we will be given a lower budget allowance in 2014. We have spent $0 on den meetings to this point, $80 on blue and gold, pinewood derby and camp were paid 100% by a fundraiser. Budget is $1000. Not sure how much awards cost, but I would be shocked if we were anywhere close to having spent our budget.) Anyway, I have no money, b

I was reading my husband's scout book (published 1979) and came across skill awards, which are like cub scout belt loops. I gather that they were discontinued. Did anything replace them? I guess this book isn't much use for scouting today. I will have to suck it up and buy a new one...

h- and I found out about leader-specific training on the district webpage, It's at the end of the month. I've been doing cub scouts for over a year and a half. I didn't know they did in person training any more. I sent an email in to the cub committee member to see if our pack could pay the $5 for me to attend. (And possibly another $20 for the other 4 leaders.) I went to one of those training meetings 12 years ago. My superior told me about it. I assumed news of such a training would go through the channels and get to all leaders. Apparently not.

Oh, I'm looking forward to boy scouts, when I'm not the leader for my kid any more. It'll be great to send him off to other people. I will have to look through merit badges again. (I flipped through my fil's books while visiting this summer and noted that aside from music, everything seemed difficult to earn.) I sent an email off to some guy in the district. If he's not the right guy, I'm sure he can direct me to the right one. The boy, whom I taught bugle had a mother, who insisted he earn every merit badge. She read that bugling was the hardest, so started him early. (He

Thanks! How do I find contact info for my district? I'm not too worried about my son earning the bugling merit badge too soon. He's never played a brass instrument and the bugle calls are not easy at all. He will have to practice daily for a couple years to play them. N/m, I googled and the info I needed was easily found.

In 6 months, my son becomes a boy scout. I'm really excited about the bugling merit badge. (I had the opportunity to help a boy learn the bugle a couple years ago.) Maybe my son will start and find out that the bugle's too hard, but I've bought the bugle anyway and intend to teach all my children (including the girls) to play. Then I though, maybe I could be the bugling merit badge counselor. I know how to play I googled about being a merit badge counselor. There's an application- and I read about the duties. I think I could do those, but I'm a woman. Are women allowed to be merit ba

I talked to the parents this past February. I was told nothing more than the fact that the boy really likes treats. The problem with treats is that I don't agree with them. Not that I don't like treats, but that I don't think we need sugary goodies every week. I've brought healthy snacks before- but that was back when we had 3 leaders taking turns running the various parts of den meeting. It's been me every week, all den meeting long and I am not doing treats as well. Sometimes another leader thinks to bring treats and sometimes she doesn't.

Today we went to a water treatment facility that uses microorganisms to treat the water to make it irrigation compliant water. It was fascinating! Next we've got wooden crafts to make and I still need to find an artist willing to talk to the boys. In asking around, I have possibly found a woodworker. Would someone, who does woodworking count as an artist?

I am a webelos' leader, formerly bears. I've had the same boys for almost 2 years. There is a boy in the pack, who has asperger's and adhd. I understand that his rude behavior is linked. Today he was poking fun at me in a very rude way. (What his uncle said about me and he was repeating.) He has been rude to visitors that I've gotten to come help out. (Asked a boy scout helper, who's not white if he was adopted- right in the middle of the presentation.) He insists upon treats every meeting, complains loudly if we don't have them, and complains before he know whether we have them or not

Thanks everyone! The boy, as stated is a Bear and cannot return to wolf (unless it's convenient to do such- such as earning his rank, but whatever)

I have asked the scout master if there were any boy scouts willing to help. There are none. The boy scout organization didn't have very good leadership, until a few months ago. Our ward has issues and not just with scouts.

I asked my husband what he made for craftsman. He said he made a tangram set. That sounds like something economical and something boys would like. (At least my boy would.)

Rulers! What a great idea! Thanks.

Have you ever found home depot to give you a discount if you tell them you are buying the supplies for scouts? My totals for the 3 projects amount to $250 and that's for 7 of each. (One to make ahead, one to use as model along the way, and 5 for the 5 boys.) Actually, I read the book again and the "challenging" part is for the non-wood items. Jacob's ladders sounds economical. The cub boys is only $30. Frames are expensive. Is there a cheaper way to do that?