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christineka

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Posts posted by christineka

  1. Love that Jr. knows what to do with his free time!

    BTW how are those bugle calls coming?

     

    @@christineka, ask someone in your church or community who is an electrician or electrical engineer if they would go through the trouble of registering with the BSA as an MBC. Now that you know what it's like to be a mom with an ambitious kid, you might want to think about filling that vacant district position.

    Haha!  Son without a mother to remind him what to do, would spend the entire day on the computer.  As for bugle calls, he got them all and earned the badge a year ago.  He's still troop bugler, though after he earns Star they're going to have to find him some other position of responsibility.  (They'll probably be happier without him bugling anyway.  Apparently this troop does not appreciate music in the morning.)   

     

    I just headr yesterday of someone at church, who is an electrician.  (Just moved into the neighborhood.)  I know sm has the idea to get a bunch of church members to become merit badge counselors.  It would really help out the troop.

     

    As for me moving up in the world of bsa, yeah right!  You have to take wood badge and be super scouty- not mention , have time.  I have 6 kids, homeschool them (the 2 with some pretty big special needs are going to public school next year, but I'll likely be advocating for them all year long.)  I'm going to have a baby in a couple months, too.  (I was asked to help with the next powow in August and no, can't do that.  I'll either be 43 weeks pregnant, be in labor, or be caring for a newborn.)

  2. As I said, District Advancement Chair.  I'll see if I can find for you.

     

    Woops!  Position vacant.

     

    John E Poulson D8 - Chairman (435) 882-2706 Joshua Pinney District Executive (801) 582-3663 x202

     

    Not making this easy, are they?

     

    "A current zone listing of merit badge counselors and merit badges by zone may be obtained from your scout unit commissioner."

     

     

    I must say, it's like a different organization that B.S.A. here in Ohio.  Says SMs and SAs are prohibited from being Merit badge Counselors.  0___0

    I've asked the unit commissioner twice.  Maybe sm will have better luck.  SMs are prohibited here in Utah from being Merit Badge Counselors?  Never knew that and I can say I don't think the SMs ans SAs know that either.  They've been merit badge counselor for several of son's badges.

  3. I can't seem to find the person, who has the district list.  Which person would that be?  I tried contacting the guy, who was in charge of the powow, where electricity was begun, but he hasn't responded to either of my two inquiries.

  4. Good news!  Son and I went over to scoutmaster's to align our records with his.  The printout from former scoutmaster was good enough, though blue cards would have been preferred.  The digital technology counselor was fine with signing a new blue card, which scoutmaster signed today.  All completed and partial merit badges have now been recorded with current scoutmaster.  Scoutmaster also says he believe the boys should be in charge of their own blue cards, so in the future it will be son's fault, should cards go missing.  One problem is that we still don't know who was the electricity counselor.  (Found Nuclear science)

  5. I'd tell mom that swimming is definitely require for Eagle while Lifesaving is optional with E-Prep as it's option.  Let's see how well the scout does in the water first.  He may not want lifesaving after taking swimming. 

    According to the information I have, the required badge is: Cycling, Hiking, OR Swimming

    Then for the other it's Emergency Prep OR Lifesaving

     

    For my son, who is on the swim team, swimming and lifesaving seemed to be the best fit for him and they make a nice pair.  (Though I as mom hope that he would earn all of the other badges, too.)

  6. Follow-up to the question that initiated my request for a discussion. The camp, when queried, said that the requirement for Swimming MB prior to taking the Lifesaving MB was an error.

     

    Really?  My son's taking lifesaving at camp this year.  It had a pre-req. of swimming.  I wonder if it's the same camp?  Or if it's a typo as well.  My son has completed swimming, so it doesn't really matter, unless he actually has to have the badge.  Swimming is one of the badges that the card seems to have disappeared before he finished.

  7. My kids are homeschooled, but I do child seat safety events at schools and also drive by schools.  I see kids, who appear to be 5th or 6th grade, who help the little kids cross the pickup loop or the street directly across from the school.  Further away are the adult crossing guards.

     

    Our local school is around the block.  The one with free lunch is 2 miles away.  Most parents drive their kids.  I don't feel the need.  We are okay with providing our kids with lunch and I don't like torturing myself.  (If I go, I have to watch my kids eat and then watch them throw away whatever they can't or don't want to eat, all the while, I eat nothing.  The rules, which call for food waste really bother me.)

  8. My kids like to go to the free school lunch.  It's 2 miles away.  All summer long, I get calls and knocks at the door to let me know my kids were far from home.  Yes, I know.  I let them go.  They're fine.  Sometimes these helpful neighbors are even annoyed that my kids won't get into their car.  I've taught them that they are not allowed to ride in other people's vehicles without my permission- even if we know them.  

  9. If this was not an LDS troop, I'd be telling you to switch troops.  As it's LDS, I don't know what your options are.

    He is signed up for a new community troop.  (Been signed up since February)  I have no idea what's going on other than it hasn't taken off yet.  With church scouts, he only gets scouts twice a month and the scoutiness is greatly reduced from when son was 11.  The boys no longer wear scout shirts and my son is gradually moving in that direction. 

  10. They are the same price as the paper copies. And these days I see "poor" scouts with better phones than I have, so you open a free account online and you can access this book on your phone or any computer.

    I don't even own a cell phone.  My kids sure don't.  I google for the free pdfs if son actually needs a pamphlet.  

  11. Christineka - Looks like the Kindle edition may be available.  http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Handbook-Boy-Scouts-America-ebook/dp/B00XWF6CA2/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433108753&sr=1-10&keywords=cub+scout

     

    Also, do you know much about other AT devices for low vision, like the RUBY http://www.freedomscientific.com/Products/LowVision/Ruby  you may be able to work with his school or insurance to get one.

    Thanks!  I'd been looking every now and then to see if they were yet available.  I know there are various devices for low vision, but so far, my son hasn't gotten any, but an ipad,which I bought secondhand for him.  This fall will be his first year at public school.  I know they're going to get him some thing for in classroom use.  Not sure if he can get anything to use at home.

  12. You raise many issues here, but as it's late where I am I'm only going to comment on a couple.  First, a month and a half is incredibly fast to go through the old wolf program.  That should not be the standard to judge.  In our large pack, rank advancement (with some electives & other activities) is a 7-8 month timeline.  And regarding the ending of the academic and sports programs, it was not ended because of time constraints.  Many elements of it were shifted to the rank requirements and electives and in essence the program was combined with the regular scout program in a move to simplify, streamline, and create a consistent program structure across ranks,

    That' good to know!  We only sped through it because I had no clue what son had to do to earn rank until a month and a half before his birthday, which in LDS scouts is when you change rank.  With younger son, I was told June 1st was the deadline, giving him 4 months.  He's actually got 8 out of 12 right now.  Tomorrow he'll finish another and then we just have to discuss cooperation with the family to have 10.  The other two he needs to do the whole thing.  (Living world and Be Safe)  Living world is hard for a kid, who can't really read.

  13.  This story is one about learning the "hard way," 

     

    Lesson for whom?  When my son was 11, he was in charge of his cards.  When he turned 12, he was over sm's jurisdiction.  He and I both asked and begged for those cards.  SM wouldn't let him have them.

  14. When I was a den leader, we had 3 den meetings a month.  I thought it was too much simply because I was doing it all by myself with an adult chaperone.  (This was Bears and wolves or bears, wolves, and webelos.)  Now that I'm out and my little boy's in, they do den meetings twice a month and I think it's not enough.  Sometimes a den leader has to work late or gets sick or something and then he ends up with only one den meeting a month.  I'm also feeling great pressure to get him to earn his rank before June 1st and it is so hard for him! 

  15. My son has a few problems with merit badge cards.  The former scoutmaster had a policy of keeping all the blue cards himself, presumably so that the cards did not get lost.  It also meant that my son has a bunch of unfinished merit badges, as he doesn't know who the counselor is.  Summer has come, freeing up my son's time.  There's also a court of honor scheduled in a couple weeks.  There's a new scoutmaster and guess what?  He has none of the incomplete merit badge cards.  The former scoutmaster had put the completed requirements into some computer program (not sure which) and printed them out, so I have the list of what son needs to do.  There are no cards, though.  There are three badges from a mb powow.  Son has completed one and we did have the counselor because there was a field trip and I needed to get the info about this.  The other two, we don't know the counselors.  Son's 11 year old leader (LDS scouting has a different leader for 11 year olds) knew of a nuclear science counselor- not sure if this is the same person who did the powow or not.  I have not been able to find an electricity merit badge counselor, however.  There's also a problem with swimming.  Son started it at camp, but finished with his 11 year old leader.  Again, no card, because scoutmaster wouldn't let him have it.  The swimming badge also changed in that time.  11 year old leader just matched up what requirements son did with the new requirements and had him do the rest.  (This was based on the computer input from scoutmaster's computer program.)  There is no card, showing son has completed swimming, yet he has.  

     

    Now there's a new scoutmaster, who is apparently overwhelmed.  I've had son ask for these and other blue cards in person and via email.  Scoutmaster is not responding.  I do not know what to do about this problem.  Does son need to start all of these badges over again?  Even if he wanted to, scoutmaster isn't giving out blue cards for anything.  Son asked for lifesaving and has been continually told to wait.  (He wants to get his 400 yard swim over with in a pool before going to camp, since he has known issues with hypothermia in mountain lakes.)

     

    Would the computer printout work for fixing up new blue cards, if son could get them?  How do we find an electricity counselor in the area?  What do we do, so my son can get his swimming badge?  Should he just start over?  (Assuming sm would even let him have another card.)  Why can't boys just keep their own blue cards???  It would be easier for son, if it was all his fault that the card was lost.

  16. As a parent, I'm overwhelmed with the new program.  My son's a wolf, but an LDS wolf, so he started in February, when he turned 8.  My older son earned his bobcat and wolf in a month and a half, so I got into this thinking there would be no problem getting my younger son to do the same.  Well, it's hard because younger son has challenges older son doesn't have.  Younger son not only has a vision impairment (found making charts was really hard for him, since brailling is not that easy.  Fortunately, got his braille teacher to give him alphabet stickers.  Making the phone list is twice as hard, when you are a beginner at braille.), but he's got attention deficit issues, along with the hyperactivity.  I can now see why moms are given an award for each cub rank.  It is a lot of work to get my little boy to do something and complete it.  He gets distracted before he even makes it to the kitchen to do his chore!  Here we are at the end of May and he's not finished wolf yet.  We're supposed to switch programs June 1st.  I looked at the new requirements and they seem to be much harder and more involved.  I will cry if we are told to start the badge all over again.   I can see that maybe the new requirements of the program are why there will be no more sports and academic program.  The boys won;t have any time for extras, especially the ones, who have difficulty with attention or who don't have much time outside of scouts to get these requirements completed.

  17. I'm a mom of 6 (soon 7).  I bought my older son's cub books at the thrift store for $2 each.  They were current and unmarked.  I had planned to reuse for younger son.  Younger is using older brother's book for wolf.  It's actually more for the leader and because here are two sets of signatures and dates, I printed out a chart, to help den leader know what younger son has done.  I downloaded the free pdf for my son to read on his ipad.  My little boy has a vision impairment, so it is important that he be able to blow up print to a larger size.  I plan to purchase the new handbook as digital books.  I do have sticker shock, though!  I will be printing out the checklist to send to and from scouts with my son.  (I do not want the ipad going to scouts)

  18. Thanks for the insight- a lot of us don't know the ins and outs of the LDS program. But it seems like the Leaders who are being called out should be expected to get trained so that they can actually do their job according to BSA (and LDS) standards.

     

     

    They are supposed to be trained. Things have changed recently (not sure if it's just my area or not) in that the prospective leader has to have their paperwork in and have youth protection completed before they can be officially called. In my ward, attending leadership training and monthly roundtable is strongly encouraged, but they cannot force people to attend. The current scoutmaster was cubmaster while I was a den leader. He is not interested in being trained. He is trying to have a fun program for the boys and get them earning badges, but whithout knowing how the program is supposed to work, it goes differently.

     

    Out of curiousity, I checked what the boys completed at the merit badge pow wow for family life. Somehow, they managed to talk to their parents about how they were important members of their family AND had a family discussion. (In addition to the other requirements that could be done without the family.)

  19. I don't understand this. Why doesn't the SM want to give the boys the cards? Is he afraid the Scouts will lose them? He doesn't want them working on MBs before earning ranks? Is he just disorganized and can't get around to producing the cards?

     

    It is because he does not trust the boys to keep their blue cards. I was once asked to come in a do family life with the boys. I handed those cards back to the boys, but they insisted that a leader have them. The assistant leader collected them and stated it was to prevent the cards from getting lost. (None of those boys did anything else with that badge and were all sent to family life at the pow wow. Perhaps the pow wow counselor figured out a way to do the badge without having to do things at home?)

     

    From talking to other parents of scouts in different troops, it seems that the general feeling of scouts is that it's something boys do at church, not at home. Parents don't worry about their boys doing anything at home or on his own.

    The 11 year old scout leader, is also into community scouts. I think that makes the difference in why he is more interested in doing scouts the scout way, rather than the lds way.

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