WHY not align Den curriculum??

[AnnLaurelB 10]

I'm just starting to look at our Pack calendar and matching it up with "Den Meeting 1", etc, for each Rank. We're going to be doing at least our 1st Den meetings of the year as a joint-effort, almost like a Pack meeting, but in Rank groups getting stuff done!

 

But what I notice is, for example, the Wolf Den Meeting 1 focuses on honesty as the Core Value, whereas the Bear Den Meeting 1 highlights respect. Ughnnnnn.

 

It would be sooooo much simpler to have EACH "Den Meeting 1" for EACH Rank be the SAME Core Value, wouldn't it? It's the SAME 12 Core Values no matter what Rank you are, so why not align them?

 

I mean, then at the end of the month, at Pack meeting, I could stand up there and say, "In your Den's, you've been talking about honesty." Well, not if the Bears talked about honesty, but the Wolves talked about respect.

 

*headdesk*

[momof2cubs 10]

Not every pack meets all together. In fact most don't. So for those packs, it's irrelevant what the other dens are doing.

 

Having said that, the den meetings listed on the leadership guide do not have to be done in the same order! You can do Wolf Meeting 1 and Bear Meeting 4 in the same month. They can be adjusted to be in any order that is convenient for you.

 

Lastly, do not fall in the trap of planning everyone's year. Den leaders should do their own calendars based on their individual dens needs/availability. You don't have to say: "In your Dens you've been talking about Honesty" You can say, "This month's core value is Honesty" It doesn't matter what they have been working on as a den.

[Scoutfish 16]

Also, youi have to realize that how a Tiger covers or learns something is not going to be the same as how a Webelos learns something. Just like reading or math in school. Math is math is math. It involves the same number that always add up the same way. But the problems are more complex, involve bigger numbers and take longer to do.

 

Same with reading. Bigger words, longer sentances, less pictures.

 

Why? Because the mental ability of the kids in the rank.

 

Plus, Tiger has X number of achievements to be met for rank.

 

Wolf and Bear have 12 and 24 respectively out of more that can be done.

 

Den leaders will combine the core values with whatever requirement they are teaching. Could be citizenship and duty to country...or LNT and honesty.

 

Try to make every den cover te exact same thing each month and you not only crimp the dens, but might as well tell the DL that you do not truct him and that you are taking over.

 

 

[5yearscouter 52]

While I understand if a cubmaster comes in and locks down a den to only do certain things each month is not going to work in all cases and of course each den must work on the things in their rank level, not at a different level. But if you are working out of the 2010 cub scout plans, they are pretty darned pre-planned-- do it this way or else it messes up the flow of the achievements, the stuff that tells the den leader where they stand in the program gets all messed up if you use them out of order. and it gets confusing. especially if you are trying to recruit new scout leaders for a super small or dying pack like the Original poster.

 

I think that the lessons plans should and could easily be aligned to do similar things each month to help facilitate pack meetings. I see the whole pack as one unit that works best if they are all sort of on the same page instead of each den doing something totally different.

 

The years where our den leaders chose similar themes each month and used those to plan their meetings was the year people really got super involved and excited in our pack. We didn't necessarily use the cub scout themes, but things like this month we'll work on whatever citizenship things in our book in our dens. and it made planning and leading pack meetings so much easier. Each den showed off their materials that were similar, built upon each others work, each den working at their own ability level. the dens knew what the pack would be talking about and doing at the pack meeting, so they'd hit that in their book, but den leaders had time to throw in other things depending on the rank and abilities and interests of their scouts.

 

It also made planning the pack meetings more fun. If we were doing citizenship, we might have the mayor come visit, walk in the veteran's parade together, or go to the city hall and have that be our pack meeting for the month, instead of sitting in the school cafeteria for another month. The kids and parents got a blast out of doing things that way. year after year doing the exact same field trip, mayor's visit etc would get very old, but there are enough options for these things that it wouldn't have to be boring.

 

MANY times it made the den leader's life easier. usually one den leader would go searching in the old program helps, pow wow books and google and end up with a wealth of materials that they could use and a bunch that was too easy or too advanced, so they'd pass stuff on to the other dens. when they took turns, the den leaders could get great ideas for every month, but only have to do the extra work every 5 or 6 months.

 

Realize also that most cub scout packs are small. If the LDS scouts make up 70% of the scouts in the US, most of them are in packs of less than 10 boys who often meet in the same place at the same time and share den leaders. it would make those dens more successful if the dens were at least all doing nature crafts in the same month--the den leader would already have it spelled out in front of them thru the cub scout 2010 program how to do different things in each rank level and not have everyone doing the same thing, so the boys don't want to stick around the next year and have to do the same thing again. Does that make sense?(This message has been edited by 5yearscouter)

[shortridge 184]

5years,

 

Not sure where that 70 percent LDS figure comes from. My back-of-the-envelope math shows that LDS Scouts make up just under 15 percent of the total traditional Scouting youth membership, from Tigers to Venturing. They make up about 32 percent of the total COs.

 

It does work up to an average LDS unit size of about 10 youth.(This message has been edited by shortridge)