But you just might find you get what you need..

[darknite 10]

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 "thats not Spica, thats Jupiter. We have been tracking it. We have our drawings from observing, and software star charts showing where it will be in 3 months. We also looked at it an hour ago from a telescope at our camp site"

 

On the other hand, they didn't complete everything for Geology, so thats one for this summer.

[DugNevius 10]

ha, i have the opposite problem, getting my boys away from the female life guards at the waterfront, putting down the frisbee or putting out the campfire to go to class.

[eagle90 125]

"They and their parents didn't pay (or shouldn't have paid) $170 to spend a week being lazy with only 1 merit badge to show for the time and effort at camp."

 

If a scout passes a MB or 2, cooks 18 meals, learns to work within the patrol method, becomes better friends with his fellow scouts and adults, does some new and different things (swim in a lake, shoot black powder, catch a frog, etc.) and has such a good time he wants to come back the next year, then the $170 is worth every penny to that boy and his parents. Not everything in Scouting should be tied numerically to achievement. We do this, we are no better than the sports coach we talk about with disdain.

[DugNevius 10]

There are a lot more things to do at summer camp then just go to merit badge classes and most if not all are as valuble to the scouting experience. Patrol cooking, sports, side hikes, high and low cope, ziplines, cave exploration, nature hikes...

 

At our camp there is a near by peak only about 4 miles away from our site that our troop likes to hike up to after dinner for a night under the stars once a week. It is suprising how few troops in camp ever go up there. They are too fixed on meritbadges to enjoy it.

[darknite 10]

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.