walk in the woods

A friend of mine carries his spiral bound in a bible cover. It has all the pockets and loops you could as for. There are solutions to problems outside of the scout shop if what's being offered doesn't meet your requirements. I like the spiral bound because it lies flat.

idk, seems like a lot of all-or-nothing short-term thinking going on. If these parents were once active and are just burned out, why push them out the door with paperwork they aren't willing to do in order to volunteer their time? What if working on a merit badge with their son is the thing that keeps the door ajar, helps them remember why they like the program, and ultimately brings them back into the fold? How many great MBC's and/or Venturing Consultants are our kids missing out on because we require them to be registered members of the BSA? Seems like there are other ways to handle this.

No, they are not being unreasonable or selfish. They are being engaged parents savoring what little time they have left before they become the dumbest people on the planet. It's a shame the bureaucracy turns them away because they might find they would like to work with more boys. They are going to work on those things with their sons outside the BSA anyway. What harm would it do to allow your local union plumber to sign off on his son's plumbing merit badge? All it takes is trusting local leadership to make informed decisions. When I was still recruiting MBC's I had a few teachers turn me down flat because of the BSA bureaucracy. They were more than willing to work with the boys but they simply weren't interested in registering, going through YPT and MBC training.

Just for giggles, on United's website I just checked pricing for round-trip tickets between Chicago and Tokyo as if the WSJ was this year. My reservation had my tickets leaving Saturday July 23rd, arriving Sunday July 24th, with a return ticket for Saturday Aug. 6th. It was just over $2000. So if the Japan WSJ was roughly $6k, and I can get coach travel for just one person for $2k, without any bulk purchase discount, it might be reasonable to assume the remaining $4k was the Jamboree fee. You'll still have to travel for the Jamboree so $5k minimum to attend the WSJ at the Summit on the back of my envelope.

Good reference at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CDOC-109sdoc18/pdf/CDOC-109sdoc18.pdf. Most details are in section 7 starting on page 12. The US flag should take the position of prominence on the speakers platform (to the speakers right/audience left) and in the procession (to the audience's right). The flags will cross on the speaker's platform. If you are carrying in a cross I'd recommend making it a separate procession. Either bring the cross in to start the service then make the flag ceremony the first element of that service or hold the flag ceremony then bring the cross in to signify the start of services.

I have an old 8 D-Cell Coleman that I use for family camping. It's the old CFL version of http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Pack-Away%C2%AE-8D-LED-Lantern/dp/B00339C3A0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450459991&sr=8-2&keywords=coleman+collapsible+lantern. It hangs in my camp kitchen and does a reasonable job. It is heavy and we do burn through some batteries. I've used it for troop camping and it's good for playing cards under the dinning fly. I also have an old 4 D-Cell Coleman. I use it for car camping also. When I pitch my big tent it hangs between a couple of the gear hooks and provides a nice amount of light for reading. We also use these at the house during power outages. When I'm nostalgic, or if I'm winter camping, I pull out my dad's old Coleman white gas dual mantle lantern. Geneally I prefer the batteries because they don't get hot.

Or create a Boy Scout experience for their daughter instead of building an actual Crew.

I know the feeling. The U where I work sent an email to staff this fall saying there were looking to cut costs to fund faculty and research needs, then, about three days later, sent an email to staff asking us to participate in a 24-hour fundraiser for the U.

A curious question no doubt. Would it be "uncommon concern" if he had done the same thing for a stranger?

To be honest I like the activity fee idea better than FOS. I think it would be easier to sell parent at registration every year by saying "yep, it's $75 a year to be in scouting. 1/3 goes to national, 1/3 to council and 1/3 to the unit. Write one check now and we'll do local fundraisers for all the rest." That's better than constantly coming back to the unit asking for more money. FWIW, The units support the council and national by existing and running the program. They don't owe the organization anything beyond that. Rather, the organization exists to support the units.

I'm not Catholic so offered without comment: http://www.nccs-bsa.org/pdf/Knights/KOCLetter111815.pdf http://nccs-bsa.org/national/KnightsSupportingScouting.php

I wish more kids thought about this. Native American culture, Hollywood or otherwise, hasn't been part of mainstream American culture for decades. When the OA was founded Native American tribes were still making pilgrimages to Washington, D. C. to meet with the government. How many of our youth today could identify the acronym BIA?

18 months max before membership is changed to allow girls. The way I figure it Gates will stay in the Presidency through the next National Meeting. He'll take the heat if there is a membership hit for the most recent change. Randall will take the helm and publicly hold tight for a year while working with the Board and LDS church behind the scenes. At the National Meeting in 2017 he'll announce local option for allowing girls to be members of Cubs and Boy Scouts effective September 1, 2017 or January 1, 2018. He'll point to flagging membership numbers and talk about more liberal councils on the coasts already registering girls in some round-about fashion being the driving factors. More importantly, building in the year delay won't mess with planning for the 2017 National Jamboree significantly, while positioning the organization to be fully co-ed in time for the World Jamboree in 2019. Is that too cynical?

I also use the ring method. I try to keep the bottom ring just outside a circle drawn through the legs but inside the walls on the camp stove. No hot spots on the bottom of the oven. I normally just checkerboard-ish the top.

Thanks alot. Now I'm hungry! Think we'll have to dig out the iron and see what we can do for Xmas gifts.

Sounds like what I know as lukken.

There are many "all encompassing" youth activities, 4H, Campfire, YMCA, Church youth groups, etc. If the parents really want an all encompassing activity then why didn't they choose one? Why did they choose Scouting knowing it was a boys-only club? Maybe because BSA offers value in the rearing of male youth that no other organization can offer specifically because we are a boys-club. Maybe that's the differentiator that makes us viable at all. Maybe if we go co-ed we become just another all encompassing activity, no different than any of the rest. When faced with a decision to follow the crowd my grandmother used to ask me "if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you jump too?"

When the Future Farmers of America branched out from their farming roots to general agribusiness they just changed the name of the organization to FFA. The Boy Scouts of America could just change their name to BSA and let it go at that.

Kind of program, kind of council relations, kind of I&P probably. http://scoutingwire.org/this-is-how-we-will-grow-scouting/ Interesting focus areas.

I've started to reply to this about 100 times. It's near and dear to my heart as my son is autistic. Thank you to those who have been more positive in the thread. I'd like to start by clarifying some language. You shouldn't be looking to bend any rules or make any concessions. The word you are searching for is accommodation. Bending rules and making concessions are what weak teachers do when they've given up on a student; accommodations are what talented teachers employ to get the most out of their students regardless of any limitations. As for fairness, strike this idea from your thinking. Fairness is what helicopter parents worry about. Mental disability was mentioned in one post. Autism is not a mental disability, it is a neurological disorder. Autistic's simply experience the world differently than neuro-typicals, sometimes in ways that are overwhelming. Sometimes it's combined with other neurological disorders. The autistic youth, including my son, that have passed through my life are incredibly bright. They may not understand social queues and peer relationships. They may find dealing with adults preferable to dealing with youth. My son tells me adults are more predictable so he appreciates dealing with them rather than his peers. But they aren't, by default, mentally disabled. This is a common mistake made by neuro-typicals and is somewhat offensive. Stosh, autism is many things but it's certainly not, and never has been, an excuse. The poverty rate and unemployment rate for disabled adults is double the national average. If you look at the underemployment its worse. It's bad in the autistic community because people assume autistic's are just "making an excuse." I'm going to assume you just chose your words poorly rather than being simply rude. Now, as far as the question goes, the answer as has been stated is "it depends." If you know one autistic youth you know one autistic youth. For example, it took my son several years to break through the water barrier. We were blessed to have the option to go with swimming lessons from the time he was a Cub Scout until he passed his swim test. Not everyone is so lucky. It took years for him to get passed the sensory issue of having water on his face. Some kids never get through the sensory issues and sensory issues are a real deal. So, without specifics about the young man, how he is affected and what accommodations work for him in everyday life, it's impossible for any of us to offer any sort of reasonable advice.

And now we get helicopter recess... http://www.startribune.com/support-seesaws-for-recess-consultant-at-2-edina-elementary-schools/330529851/

The playing of Taps would be appropriate.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Peace and healing for your family. --- I don't know if your mother was involved in the OA but many local OA Lodges perform a broken arrow ceremony for lodge members/scouters who have passed.

I can't really speak to the money aspect. I heard the same thing about NEIC regarding secure funding being in place. I'm in a neighboring council and our numbers are reported to be down, at least that's what I hear. Did some quick searches: PTAC: 26,706 scouts, 9000 volunteers (http://www.pathwaytoadventure.org/about/) NEIC: 10,000 youth, 3500 volunteers (http://www.neic.org/files/d/usr/3/BSA_NEIC_Recruiting_Plan_2014%20course.pdf) TFC: 13,987 youth and 5,821 adult (http://www.threefirescouncil.org/index.php/about-tfc) Rainbow: 4125 youth (annual report at https://www.rainbowcouncil.org/forms/category/3-executive-board.html) This covers the entire Chicago metro with the exception of McHenry county which is in Blackhawk Council. Blackhawk claims 18,000 youth (http://www.blackhawkscouting.org/Council) but they cover all the rest of Northern Illinois and a bit of SW Wisconsin. When I look at the study I linked earlier it does seem like there are a lot of camps in fairly close proximity to each other in WI. Maybe thinning the heard isn't necessarily a bad thing.