Stosh

While this is true for most boys, the OP did mention the son was homeschooled. Often these children are a bit behind in socialization, but they are definitely ahead of the Bell curve in terms of maturity and education. I have found that a lot of the homeschooled parents aren't pushing their children as much as they are providing them a variety of different opportunities. I think they may make up an exception to the helicopter parents that push.

The very first Boy Scout activity I went on (I was still wearing my Cub Scout uniform) I was visiting the troop. It was a 10 mile hike, five miles out, and five miles back. While we were out there we stopped in the woods. I made a fire and cooked my meat and potatoes lunch in my mess kit. No one offered to help the new guy... I did just fine. I had the advantage of camping out with my family since 4 years of age. Not many scouts have that opportunity, but the point is, at age 10-11, the skills needed to cook are learnable. As I found out, learnable before one even gets to that age.

As a homeschooled boy, I am sure he can handle getting ahead of the game this way. There's nothing wrong with mastering the S->FC skills and simply coming in and demonstrating it to the SM when he comes on-site. I would love to have boys do their homework prior to the lesson.

Is this why I see a high number of older scouts taking a hiatus from scouting and then coming back and finishing THEIR eagle? As altruist as that may sound, I don't readily see it among the older scouts. Yes, there are those boys who do think of scouting as helping other people at all times, most often it is because their parents are actively involved in scouting and have instilled that attitude in their children. Ideally it is what scouting is all about. I wish that there were more scouts out there that understand it better.

The multi-billion dollar, global company I used to work for had a quote from their CEO: "The man on the assembly line does not work for us, we work for them". It would be nice if BSA picked up on that sentiment. By the way it is obvious that the CEO has read the book, SERVANT LEADERSHIP by Robert Greenleaf. We in the BSA trenches are the ones in direct contact with the customer, i.e. scouts. Without proper support we can't do that.

Boolean Logic = 5th grade or AOL is first then the age is added in. So the three choices are 1) 11 years old 2) 10 years old and 5th grade 3) 10 years old and AOL Sorry, but I think Doogie Howser his going to have to wait.

Neither do seniors in high school don't want to do the same activities as a 6th grader.... Kids tend to want to group by ages and interests.

"We're here on the line assembling cars together for the customer. Why do we need bosses? They don't lift a finger to help and for the most part simply get in the way." - Union 101

Go for it, sounds good to me.

SOMETHING FUN THAT HE PICKS! Summer camp should not be an extension of school. Whittling, leathercraft, nature study, astronomy is always a fun one. mammals, reptiles, whatever he thinks would be FUN. Too often the newer and even second year scouts are so intent on getting the biggy MB's they forget to have fun at camp. If he's into water sports and can pass the swimmer test, there's canoeing, kayaking, small boat sailing if the camp offers it. Fishing.... hey what can I say, go fishing.

I would say that some of the MB's that require more physical maturing, i.e. backpacking, lifesaving, etc. might be too much for a small scout and would need a bit of discouragement in the early years. But Cooking? No brainer. My kids were cooking from grade school on and that's without the microwave. Stove top and oven. My kids stood on a stool to be able to reach the front burners. They were careful, never had an accident. In today's society I bet we could have Child Welfare all over us, but now all of them are good cooks. Unless there's a focus problem with a scout and can't stay on task, Cooking would be a great start with the MB's. I'm thinking one might be getting jerked around a bit here. But if the MB counselor doesn't want him, I wouldn't recommend pushing the issue. Just find a different MB counselor more receptive to everyone involved.

Direct answers such as "Yes" and "No" are not allowed in any literature of the BSA.

or better yet try to make a nice display screen using only ASCII characters.

The gold standard for the average sermon on Sunday morning is 12 minutes which takes about 12 hours to prepare. If one goes over or under a bit no one notices but anything less than 10 minutes or over 15 they will notice.

I started my techie adventure in 1968 when I took Computer Science in college. Chain printers, mainframe only and keypunch cards. Yes, I have used a first out PC where the computer, screen and keyboard were all one piece. I was upset when I had to move off DOS and start using a mouse. And yet there is a whole new world out there that I haven't the foggiest idea what they are up to.

The gender neutral ones are the worst!

She's the one that taught me that bears are always a concern, but moose are the real danger. They are just plain ornery. We were up in Yellowstone and saw a number of cars parked along the road. Someone had seen something. So we stopped to see what everyone was up to. About 75 yards off the road someone had come across a moose lying down resting. The crowd had totally encircled the moose taking pictures. She said, "We need to get out of here NOW!" I was surprised. She said if that moose gets to it's feet someone's going to get hurt. While in Alaska if there was a bear in the neighborhood, her kids were still allowed to play outdoors, but if a moose was sighted (which was quite often) the kids were all rounded up and put in the house. A few years ago the son of a neighbor of hers (teenager) was killed as he walked from the school bus drop off to the house (something he had done hundreds of times before) when he couldn't get around an intruding moose. The area in which anyone camps needs to be scouted and made safe and all the boys need to be trained for such situations well in advance.

I have no doubt that you are correct in that assumption. She's probably better at dealing with bears than I am. Still, I'm going to always wear my running shoes to bed, just in case.

Welcome to the forum. Are you a DC of Cubbies or a TG for a new scout patrol of crossovers? Just curious how your troop is running that POR.

We had only one pack in our council accept the challenge of Lions. I haven't hear anything one way or another on whether it was a success or not. I would have thought that if it was a positive experience, they would be encouraging other packs to give it a try as well. The silence is deafening.

As I have mentioned earlier, 40+ years of scouting, working to get many boys their religious knots, work weekly with my local church's youth group and am an endorsed Spiritual Care worker for the American Red Cross. Yes, the knot is not very widely publicized. Only the BSA is aware of it, these other organizations are not. It is unfortunate for many worthy people in scouting. Being a non-BSA award, there is a major disconnect in the process.

I always tent with my wife. In bear country I figure she's sweeter than I am and I can outrun her. Two very important issues to consider when camping.

The Mrs. and I take the scoutss out all the time. She's well versed in outdoor environment, forester by trade and many years working with the National Forestry Service in Alaska as a crew supervisor. She is also an expert in canoeing and kayaking and goes along as a qualified safety person on the floats. She sleeps in the same tent with me. Not all seems on the surface what lurks below.

Celebrity status is given, seldom earned. I was working at my desk one day when this gentleman came into the office. He looked familiar. He introduced himself to me as "The Governor of the State of Wisconsin." I said, "And your last name, sir?" He said it and I notified my boss the Governor X has arrived for his appointment. I turned to the Governor and said, "He will see you now, sir." He shook my hand on the way out and asked for my name. I said, "The Reverend Stosh." He smiled and said , "Well played, sir." Saw him a few times after that, and I called him The Governor of the State of Wisconsin and he called me The Reverend He turned out to have a nice sense of humor.

And this, folks, why I don't have any involvement in the process unless asked, I don't allow my ASM's to be involved, I threaten all parents that get involved, and keep them away from the candidate!!! It is my experience under this assumption that with a few mini-projects the boys have practiced on in the past, the Eagle project is nothing more than hoop-jumping paperwork. The boy should already know how to lead, his project is only confirming it.