HomeScouter 10 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I am looking for information to help with bringing Scouting into our home school program. If any one has web sites that help with this specific topic. please send them to me or documents. my email is ezine@lipsit.com Link to post Share on other sites
OneHour 11 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Lone Scout should is the program that you are looking for. From BSA National: http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?c=xds&terms=lone+scout A great article on Lone Scouting in the Scouter's: http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0110/a-lone.html Some of the Links: http://www.texastrailsbsa.org/Council/homelone_scout.htm http://www.geocities.com/scouts_alex/lonescout01.html http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-515.html and one in particular for your situation: http://homeschooledscouts.tripod.com/philmontoutline.html Hope this helps, 1Hour Link to post Share on other sites
Fat Old Guy 11 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Lone Scouting is for Scouts who are far, far away from the nearest troop or for Scout who are unable to interact with a troop for medical reasons. Link to post Share on other sites
NJCubScouter 1389 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 When you say "our home schooling program," are you referring to just your own family, or do you mean a group of parents who get together to "home school" their children? (I have heard of this, and to me it starts to resemble a very small private school, at least on a part time basis.) Depending on the numbers and ages (and genders) of the students you could potentially be able to form your own unit. Of course, any boy of the correct age can join a unit without regard to their "schooling" situation. Or, are you talking about using the materials and methods of Scouting IN your home schooling program (which is actually closer to what you said) without the students necessarily being BSA members? I have heard of that being done also, mostly in online forums. Link to post Share on other sites
OneHour 11 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 "Lone Scouting is for Scouts who are far, far away from the nearest troop or for Scout who are unable to interact with a troop for medical reasons." Actually ... no, according to National. Please take a look at the last eligibility item on http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-515.html "Boys who are eligible to become Lone Scouts include - Children of American citizens who live abroad - Exchange students away from the United States for a year or more - Boys with disabilities that might prevent them from attending regular meetings of packs or troops - Boys in rural communities who live far from a Scouting unit - Sons of migrant farmworkers - Boys who attend special schools, night schools, or boarding schools - Boys who have jobs that conflict with troop meetings - Boys whose families travel frequently, such as circus families, families who live on boats, and so on - Boys who alternate living arrangements with parents who live in different communities - Boys who are unable to attend unit meetings because of life-threatening communicable diseases - Boys whose parents believe their child might be endangered by getting to Scout unit meetings - Boys being home schooled" 1Hour Link to post Share on other sites
NJCubScouter 1389 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I did not deal with the "Lone Scout" issue before and I just want to say, I don't think it changes anything one way or the other. The key word here is "eligible." A boy being home-schooled may be eligible for the Lone Scout program but he also is eligible to be in a troop. The question is, what is the best thing for the boy. All other things being equal, the boy probably is going to get more of the program the way it is intended to be delivered, in a troop (or pack.) (I say "all other things being equal" because it is conceivable that Dad is a former SM and has Silver Beaver and Woodbadge, while all of the local troops are poorly run and failing; but assuming that is NOT the situation, I think being in a unit is better than being a Lone Scout.) In other words, home-schooled is not synonymous with Lone Scout. Over the time I have been in this forum, several people have identified themselves as home-schooling their children, and yet ALL of the boys in question appeared to be (or have been) in a unit. I don't think I have ever seen anyone in this forum identify themselves as a Lone Scout or the parent of a Lone Scout. Link to post Share on other sites
NJCubScouter 1389 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I meant to put this in the previous post, but I hit the wrong button. My basis for saying that there are home-schooled boys in troops is not just from this forum. At least two of the boys in my son's troop are home-schooled, and their father is an assistant scoutmaster. Link to post Share on other sites
Fat Old Guy 11 Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 We have a number of home schooled children in my troop and my daughter's girl scout troop has two home schooled children. The parents say that belonging to a group like Scouts is important to give the social interaction that they would have at school. OneHour, thanks. I've never read much about Lone Scouting. I find it interesting that they'd say that being home schooled qualifies a boy for Lone Scouting. It doesn't make sense to allow someone to be a lone scout just because he doesn't go to the local junior high but is taught by his parents when the boys who live on either side of him MUST join a troop because they do go to school. However, there is much about BSA that makes little sense. Link to post Share on other sites
WAKWIB 107 Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 My wife and I have home schooled our kids from the start. Oldest son is now 15, younger son is 9. When my oldest turned 11 we joined just a regular troop chartered by a church in our area. A couple of home-school families we knew had some older boys in the program there. I registered as an assistant scoutmaster. Now my oldest son is the Senior Patrol Leader of the troop (30+ active members). He is doing a fine job, so far. The other home school boys have got Eagle rank and moved on, so at present we are the only home school family in the troop. But it is working out great. The Lone Scout program is probably something you do not want unless you are in an area with no Troop at all, or the boy is restrained by medical reasons. You would want your son to have the social interaction, group activities, and leadership development a troop provides. We have in our area, a home-school association with about 250+ member families. It is basically a resource-sharing and support group. It is gradualy moving into other areas such as team sports and music groups. About a year ago they chartered a Cub Pack, and a Boy Scout Troop and I understand it is doing well. If you belong to an association such as this, chartering and starting a Troop would be no different for that association than it would be for any other school, church, American Legion, etc. Your first point of contact for this would be your local BSA council office. So your options for your home schooled son would be: 1) join an existing troop in your area. 2) if you belong to a home-school association, see if there is an interest in chartering a troop. 3) if you belong to a church---same as #2 As far as specific web-sites, I am not aware of any, but I could just about promise that there are a number of home-school association sponsored troops throughout the country with a web-site, and I'm sure you could e-mail them to see how they got started. Do a google search with the key words "homeschool association boy scout troop". In fact I just did and here are a couple of sites: http://www.nctroop94.org/metadot/index.pl?id=0 http://www.netcache.org/troop98/ I truly hope that you and your family can enjoy the benefits of Scouting. (This message has been edited by WAKWIB) Link to post Share on other sites
OneHour 11 Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 Fat Old Guy ... agreed! btw, I'm not supporting Lone Scouting, unless it is absolutely necessary. Social interaction with others (adults and boys) is so important for a child's emotion and social development. In a group environment, the boy will learn social skills and leadership skills. I only learned of this when I was looking for how to start up a troop. 1Hour Link to post Share on other sites
RobK 10 Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 HomeScouter, here is the our troop's website with a couple of useful links. [http://www.scouttroop.org/in/bsa/307/] We are almost entirely homeschoolers. Link to post Share on other sites
Lone 10 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 My son is Lone Scouting. His brother will be soon. It's working out very well. So well that we're encouraging other like-minded homeschoolers in the area to Lone Scout, too. I suppose it depends upon WHY a person is homeschooling. For us, part of that is family togetherness. He has plenty of opportunity to lead and teach -- mostly his siblings, but others as well. When he is a mature young man and working toward Eagle, he will likely join a troop. For now, Scouting as a Lone Scout provides him the opportunity to learn skills under the direct supervision of his father, grandfather, or other godly men of our choosing. Each parent needs to decide what is best for his child. For us, it's Lone Scouting. http://www.LoneScouting.com(This message has been edited by Lone) Link to post Share on other sites
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