darknite

The overnighters are fun. we went on a canoe trip to an island in the lake for an outpost overnighter. The rain that day broke and we went out. The boys tied glow sticks together, and put on a big show. We stayed up really late just talking and playing around. That was the best of the 2 outpost adventures.

BTW, forgot to mention that the camp director was informed way ahead of time that the boys were working towards a specdific goal. Local merit badge councilors also helped them prepare, and filled out partial slips to indicate the work completed at home. Everything they did was documented, photographed, and had a letter from the advancement chair to certify the work done. The boys spent time in class with the camp staff and other scouts, and had to demonstrate they actually knew the stuff to get the merit badge passed off. In one case, the boys were able to tell the astronomy councilor "t

The 3 boys who finished 13 badges at camp started doing the work 8 weeks before camp. They spent a month tracking planets, spotting constellations, going to the library, science museum and planetarium for Astronomy. They built rain gauges, made weather observations, visited the local university and TV station for weather. They taught orienteering skills and set up courses for cubs, webelos, new scouts, and at a girls camp for orienteering. They spent time with the forest service learning about our local national forest, fire and avalanche control, animals, and water ma

Someone mentioned that we teach the scouts how to shoot a rifle, how to fire a shotgun, and blackpowder, and to use a bow and arrow. It might be worth noting that all of those things are used under very strict adult supervision, and locked tightly away. Scouts don't get to keep rifles, bows and arrows, or shotguns in their tents, backpacks, or fanny packs. You could argue that if a scout gets lost, he could fire three rounds as an emergency signal, or break open a shell and use the gun powder to start a fire, or shoot something to eat, or protect himself from a bear or mountain lion.....

OK, this post is only several months late. (I just found the thread) Brunton makes an entire line of solar recharger products. Check out www.brunton.com/catalog.php?cat=8

Merit Badges, Advancement, Camp Spirit Our troop won the highest honor in camp, the Baden Powell Award. They have a tough set of requirements. Each boy must earn 5 merit badges, participate in a 4 hour service project as a troop, attend all opening and closing flag ceremonies in full uniform, participate in 2 camp wide games, Have the SPL attend all daily SPL meetings, Have all adult leaders attend all adult leader meetings, participate in at least one outpost overnighter (away from the main scout camp) participate in a scout's own, and participate in the skit night campfire program, and do

Re: Cooking Our Troop goes on monthly campouts during the school year, and twice monthly during summer vacation. 2 years ago, one of our council's camps built a dining hall. We tried it out and got into the dining hall food plan. Big Surprise! It added 3 hours back into program time! More free time, or more water front time, or more rifle range time, or more merit badge time. Outside of summer camp we cook in patrols at least 14 times a year. The 3 extra hours per day of program time is a huge benefit. We will probably never go back to cooking at summer camp.