The boring stuff

[AKdenldr]

I've been following the discussion on the monthly program helps and fast tracks. This is an offshoot question:

 

We plan for advancement and add in from the monthly program helps.

 

I'm excited about the Bear book because it is much more flexible then the Wolf year.

 

So this brings me to the question, what stuff in the requirements

have your boys found boring, too simple, too hard, or too school like? Or to put it another way, what items in the books reduce retention?

 

What are the big successes?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[Lisabob]

Great question!

 

From the bear book, the religious requirement wasn't one that the boys jumped up and down about. Not surprising, I suppose.

 

We tried to do a walking history tour of our town (covering some of What Makes America Special). That was a disaster. The parents found it fascinating and asked a million questions - the kids were bored to tears. That's one we would definitely do differently if I had a time machine!

 

Any of the requirements that included writing reports or essays tended not to be very popular. Too school-like.

 

Things that went over well - we did a time capsule, which they loved. Almost all of the "Self" options went over well (but not the Jot It Down one). Anything they could build, paint, or pound on was popular. We did a lot of visits to parks and nature centers that year, which they enjoyed. It is a great age to introduce them to hiking, animal watching, and environmental conservation (in ways that are fun and not overwhelming). They're still young enough to be excited about field trips to the zoo (or where ever) but old enough to do a lot more cool outdoor stuff too.

 

The local children's librarian helped us with the Tall Tales options. Again, they're still young enough (esp. at the start of the year) that you can take them to the library for stories and they'll enjoy it.

 

They had a blast with cooking. We actually combined part of the science beltloop with the part of the cooking option, and had them experiment with making cookies with and without a key ingredient (I think we did choc chip with no baking powder - still edible, but way different). We also made oobleck, which isn't exactly food but it ended up in our cooking/science section anyway. That was fun, and messy too (look up oobleck online).

 

 

Wow, we did so many fun things that year! I envy you a little, that you have it all ahead of you. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[ManyHats]

If I had it to do again it would have been more fun. You have to pick up on what the boys enjoy. I have a group that likes to talk, so telling stories was right up their alley. We had to cut them short to get through everyone. They definitely like wood work. I was surprised the tool boxes only took them 1/2 the meeting to complete. Whittling Chip was a favorite too.

The majority of the den earned the religious emblem. They didn't enjoy it, but really like the medals.

We had pen pals. That went over well to start with but they lost interest and didn't want to write much.

[Lisabob]

We tried the pen pal thing too with similarly disappointing results - and a pack journal project where each den got a token (stuffed bear, wolf, tiger, etc) and a journal and were asked to chronicle what they were doing by taking pictures & writing about it. That was a flop. What I learned there is that maybe little girls like writing more than a lot of little boys like writing!