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Cub Scout homework


janey1968

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How much time(reading/activities) does your child put in at home working towards their Bear badge? Our Den meets once a week and does one objective from the bear handbook. The problem is our son joined late(December)and I feel I maybe pushing him to hard at home to catch up with the other kids. So I would like to hear from other parents on how much time they/child spend on "Cub Scout homework

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If your son joined in December he will have plenty of time to get his Bear badge before the end of the school year. Odds are the rest of the den will have earned their badge before he does but that will make his bear ceremony that much more special because he won't be sharing the limelight with anyone else.

 

A lot the "homework" for the Bear badge is stuff many families already do...family game night, help with making a meal, help with shopping, etc. I bet you won't have any trouble getting it done without rushing him.

 

 

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Janey--

 

Does he like doing the stuff? If it's still fun, then you're not overworking him. If it's some kind of torture to get him to do things, well, maybe back it down a little, or pick different things.

 

Earlier in the year, the den probably worked more heavily on advancement stuff. With most boys in the den so close to completing, they'll be moving on to the electives and just plain old FUN things.

 

In your shoes, I would print the Cub Scout Advancement record--page two (found here: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34-29-30.pdf ) and track what your son's finished, and what he still needs. (Well, heck, I use that report when we start the school year. I tape it to my kitchen wall. It's a lot easier for us to SEE than the pawprint chart in the back of the book)

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As the earlier posters noted, most of the Bear advancement is stuff that, at least IMHO, most of us are doing with our kids anyway. The God and Family groups are pretty much do at home, anyway. As I told my Bears (and parents) last year when I was Bear Den leader--Go through the book, and see what you've already done, just in passing. You might be pleasantly surprised at how far he's gotten.

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We go to lots of scout events. That alone knocks out lots of achievemetns and electives.(he completed most in summer camps and summer activites before Sept anyway).

Look through the book and take out things you may be doing already and do the rest of the items on there bit by bit. I'd say if you do one a week you'll have no problem. I ask my son questions and do some of the character connections as we're drving in the car or see something on TV. This presidential year has been wonderful in relating some of the character connections- such as the family one. Make it a family project to do the fmaily tree. He may have done it already so just review it. It's fun to talk to grandparents and aunts/ uncles and to find out the history of your home town - they may have tours or maybe you live near a historic place to visit.

It's not homework it's all about having fun!!

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...but sit down with him and purposefully go thru the book with him and point out what he has accomplished and ask him how you and he can achieve the next few things on his way to the Bear rank?

Make sure he is included in the advancement!

 

Know what I mean?

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My son has a requirement to read 20 minutes every night. We convinced him to increase his time goal. Since he can read anything, I remarked that he can read from his Bear Book as part of his nightly reading. We don't do it every night, but he likes to get me to listen to his reading and then we discuss some of the achievements and make plans for the achievement that require more than a discussion. Too bad more scouts/parents don't do this.

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Just look for items (even from multiple achievements) that you can group into one event / outing.

 

The goal is to be out doing stuff as a Pack, Den, and family and the achievements naturally happen as part of the fun.

 

If you can knock out 2 or 3 in one event, all the better.

 

You can encourage, but try not to push - he's got time. Besides, it does no good to push him to his Bear rank if he's burnt out and wants to drop out in Web1.

 

Rank Advancement is nice, but its NOT the destination - its the JOURNEY that counts in scouting. Good Luck.

 

YiS,

 

Dean

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