OneHour

Popularity contest, may be in some troop, but not in ours. First and foremost, the scout (and adult leader) has to acquired a minimum number of campout nights to be nominated. Everyone in the troop is free to elect the person of his choosing (no campaign speeches, no pressure, no debate). To date, some of our "more popular" scouts did not get elected in (yes ... to their surprise as well). Take my son for example, he is the epitome of shyness, but in his own ways, he is visible to his fellow scouts. Last year he was voted in his first year of eligibility. The SM told me that he got the 2nd highest number of votes in the troop. It floored me. I would have never thought it, not my son ... the quiet one! Apparently, he is very helpful to most of the boys in the troop and they appreciated that. This is the main theme for the OA ... service with a smile! This past election, again one of the "popular" scout did not get elected. The boys know whom and how to vote if they are instructed accordingly. Our Council camps cannot be upkept if it weren't for the OAs (without paying for the labor of course)! As for adult, we simply see who is elegible and who is willing to roll up his sleeves to participate in OA. Last year, it came down to another gentleman and myself. Being too polite, we both opted for the other. We couldn't decide who would go, so we settle it by a good game of rock, paper, or scissor. I lost! 1Hour ps: we only had 49 boys last year!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Our troop uses Coleman 3-4. Personally, I have 3 persons Coleman (6 years old), 2 persons backpacking Alps Mountaineering (2 years old), 8 persons family dome (K-mart out-of-business sale), and my son has an REI Half-Dome 2 (1 year old). All have been very good to us even in a hard wind/ rain storm. Although, I need to retire my Coleman. Have you checked out Alps Mountaineering? http://www.scoutdirect.com/sale.htm They give fairly good discount to scout and scouter. I have always wondered about their Taurus tents as to how good they are. For the discounted price, it's almost cheap enough to give it a try . I have their 2-man Mystique. It held up very well so far for the size and weight. I use it mostly for packbacking. Coleman online gives great discount on their tents as well. Having talked to many scouters in our area, the following names seem to be a hit among them: Eureka, Northface, REI, MSR, and Sierra Design. Check out the tent that you like locally and shop at the various discount places online for the same tent: http://www.campmor.com http://www.rei.com/outlet http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.OnlineShopping 1Hour ps: I personally don't like the Eddie Bauer's, Texsport's, Timber Creek, Ozark and the likes. (This message has been edited by OneHour)

I need to smile today. So: SURVIVAL LESSON: The scoutmaster was teaching the scouts about survival in the desert. 'What are the three most important things you should bring with you in case you get lost in the desert?' he asked. Several hands went up, and many important things were suggested such as food, matches, etc. In the back of the room, one young scout raised and waved his hand excitedly. 'Yes Johnny, what are the three most important things you would bring with you?' asked the Scoutmaster. Johnny replied, 'Sir, a compass, a canteen of water, and a deck of cards.' 'Why's that Johnny?' Johnny answered, 'Sir, the compass is to find the right direction and the water is to prevent dehydration...' 'And what about the deck of cards?' asked the scoutmaster. 'Well, Sir, as soon as you start playing Solitaire, someone is bound to come up behind you and say, 'Put that red nine on top of that black ten!'' **************** How many cub scout leaders does it take to change a light bulb? Thirteen (+/- 5) - One to call a planning meeting, one to call everyone to find a date and time when everyone can get together, one to conduct the meeting, one to make an announcement about the planned light bulb changing, one to lead a song, one to write a sketch about light bulbs, one to screw it in, two to do a run-on, one to lead a cheer for a job well done, one to bring refreshments, and one to buy patches for everyone who participated! **************** (from Milton Keynes Scout Network) A hot rock placed in your sleeping bag will keep your feet warm. A hot enchilada works almost as well, but the cheese sticks between your toes. The best backpacks are named for national parks or mountain ranges. Steer clear of those named for landfills. Acupuncture was invented by a camper who found a porcupine in his sleeping bag. While the Swiss Army Knife has been popular for years, the Swiss Navy Knife has remained largely un heard of. Its single blade functions as a tiny canoe paddle. Get even with a bear who raided your food bag by kicking his favorite stump apart and eating all the ants. You'll never be lost if you remember that moss always grows on the north side of your compass. A potato baked in the coals for one hour makes an excellent side dish. A potato baked in the coals for three hours makes an excellent hockey puck.

I'm going to get criticized for typing this but here it goes anyway. We find that most if not all Webelos came in not knowing ... remembering is a better word ... any of the requirements, ie., able to describe the scout badge much less the scout oath, law, motto, slogan, etc. Our troop goes through the scout requirements more as a formality and to step the new scout through the process of getting rank advancement, namely scoutmaster conference and introducing them to the advancement chair. We simply think of it as a refresher. This is neither adding or deleting from requirements. Yes, a webelos can "automatically" attain the scout badge, but it is much better to reinforce the basics of scouting. We also cover the requirements for the benefits of the new scouts who have never been a Webelos. 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

A lot of the packs in our area (including ours) crossover in late Feb to ensure that the recharter goes through and all that was left to do is to fill out the boyscout app and pay $1 for the transfer (and the troop dues of course). Late Feb will give the boys at least 3-4 good months of camping with the troop before they hit the summer camp. This will definitely help breaking them in with camping without their parents, becoming more self-sufficient, and dealing with the homesickness issue. Also, this will give them a good 3-4 months to get into the scouting ways as well. There are a couple of packs in our area cross the boys over in December. It's really whenever they have finished their AoL requirements and have been awarded the AoL. 1Hour ps: You have gotten it correct! Just prepare them for more fun ... but this time, they and the other boys in the troop create their own fun! pps: My second son's Web den is about to enter their final phase with the Pack as well. For preparation, I am planning to have them visit 3 local troops, explaining to them and their parents what to expect in scouting, camping out with at least 2 of the troops, explaining to them and their parents how to choose or what to look for in a troop, working on the remaining activities badges, learning the scout oath, law, motto, etc., and finally awarding them the Arrow-of-Light award the last weekend in Feb 2006. It will be very busy nine months of cub scouting! With luck, we'll crossover all 18 Web 2 in our pack this coming year. We usually crossover about 80%.(This message has been edited by OneHour)

The first thing that the Webelos II will work on after crossover into a troop is the Scout badge. This will cover everything that they have just learned, the scout oath, law, motto, Outdoor Code, handshake, salute, uniform, etc. and the square knot and that is all. Everything else is fairly structured according to the handbook and they all work at different speed and rate at their advancement. If they don't know it by the time they cross-over, no sweats, they'll learn those information again! For our troop, we expect the Webelos to be at the troop meetings, activities, and campouts. Other than that, the only other thing that we expect the Webelos to know is that scouting is much more fun than cubbing! Maturity, the troop gets what is available for each boy and they will vary. We have 16 years old scout who still acts like an 11 years old! Tracy ... just help them in finding the right troop for each individual Webelos. That in itself is a challenge! Visit many troops. Campout with them, participate in their activities, and talk to their SM or scouts. Then choose one! That's it. It should be fairly painless! Good luck and have fun. 1Hour (This message has been edited by OneHour)

No ... Eamonn, the world has not gone nuts ... it has gone the materialistic wayside. You and the rest of us are still in the Dark Ages of frugality. $900 purse? Heck, I still pace back and forth to talk myself out of buying new $20 pocket knife to replace my old worn-out one! But then again ... the old one is still very useful. Ah ... my oldest is eyeing on my 2001 Honda Accord. By the time he is eligible to drive, the Accord should be primed for him! It should be 7 years old and about 90k miles provened! That car would be 8 years younger and 100k miles less than the Ford station wagon that I bought when I first learn how to drive and fix it at 16! He has been telling me to use the family van on the weekend as much as possible to keep the mileage down on "his" Accord. By the way, there is a catch as well, he has to work to pay for the gas! His parents will pay for his insurance and that's it!

9 years ago: 68 cubs started out (split from our brother pack) 8 years ago: 24 cubs - pack size 86 7 years ago: 26 cubs - pack size 91 6 years ago: 31 cubs - pack size 102 5 years ago: 35 cubs - pack size 108 4 years ago: 53 cubs - pack size 132 3 years ago: 44 cubs - pack size 121 2 years ago: 38 cubs - pack size 104 last year: 32 cubs - pack size 96 this fall: hoping for 2 tiger cub dens, 1 wolf den, 1 bear den and 3-5 webelos 1 or around 30 cubs would do us just fine! Target pack size 98. Prediction - 34. 1Hour ps: at one time I thought that 100 boys are way too many, but nowaday, after our second year webelos graduated, the pack feels very emptied with 60+ boys! (This message has been edited by OneHour)

Hey Judy ... anyone who sings the Lumberjack song is okay in this Monty Python die-hard's book! I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay. I sleep all night. I work all day. He's a lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day. I cut down trees. I eat my lunch. I go to the lavatory. On Wednesdays I go shoppin' And have buttered scones for tea... ps: We'll make you an honorary engineer. Choo! choo!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Our packs have summer activities: Day Camp, baseball night, pool party, etc. Plenty to do. Den meeting meets at least twice a month (one of which is the Pack's actvities above). We work on requirements from time to time, but mostly we concentrate on having fun!

an offtake of "Miracle on 34th Street" ... separation of church and state ... hmmmm ... then why does our government puts the phrase "In God We Trust" in all US currencies? Isn't that an admission of the Treasury Department of the belief in an all powerful being? May be I'm naive and lacking the legal eagle know-how and technical babble, but I still don't see the religious discrimination in this. No where on the application that states that a boy cannot join if he is an atheist. No where in the training books and at no time in training that I have been told that I will not admit any boy without a religion. I have always been taught to follow the requirements that were laid down by BSA in terms of rank advancement. If the boy meets all the requirements, he has earned the rank. No where did it indicate that I will automatically disqualify the boy from earning the rank if he does not believe in God. I don't recall seeing the phrase or phrases that would indicate that the troop or pack should band any boy from joining if he is a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist, Islam, atheist, etc. No where that I can remember in the BSA literatures that states that you have to believe in God to join. The closest is the question on the application: Your religious preference. Many people don't even fill that blank and I have yet to have a membership rejected because that blank was not filled in. May be that I can't read. If you can find those passages, please point them out to me. I can find the religious requirements for rank advance. Yes ... each rank has it! Does this spell religious discrimination? No! Again, the boy is not barred from joining the unit. He simply cannot finish the rank! "Surely all of you can understand that the school could not exclude people from the Science Club, Baseball Team or Yearbook Staff because of their religious beliefs?" Yes, school could not exclude people from those clubs and I agree that a unit chartered by the school is another extension of the school. The school, for example, has the National Honor Society. It has requirements to be a member. High GPA is usually a requirement. The Honor Society is not excluding membership based on religion, but based on intelligence. Is this a discrimination children who have learning diabilities? School has cheerleading group and if the child who has disabilities wants to become a cheerleader and cannot jump or dance. She can't because of the requirement, then isn't the school discriminates against disabled children simple fact that its cheerleading squad has physical requirements? School can't pass and move a child to the next grade if a child cannot successfully read or perform the required math skills. School can't award a diploma if all required classes are not successfully passed. Math, reading, science, etc are REQUIREMENTS to move on to the next level. The baseball team has requirement for membership, namely the ability to play and having meet minimum requirements. These requirements are not discrimination tactics! It so happened that BSA has the religion requirement as one of the basic qualifications to be awarded the rank. The boy can participate in all activities that he wants, but he just won't advance to the next rank if he has not completely met all requirements. Rank award is not a right, but it's an congratulatory recognition of having successfully complete ALL prescribed requirements. Let's look at the definition of the words everyone's using: (Webster) discrimination: 3 a : the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually b : prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment discriminating: 2 : to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit prejudice: 1 : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims 2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics BSA requirements are based on individual merit and not classifying a group or category. BSA requirements do not form judgement or opinion based on the individual's religious belief. I don't see how the religious requirement in each rank advancement requirements creates injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims. If the scout is an atheist, he still has the legal rights and claims that he is. The religious requirement does not demand that the scout renounce his belief or non-belief. Let's take the Eagle Requirements as an example: The only reference to religion is requirement #2: Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life. and Law #12 of the Scout Law is "A Scout is reverent" This does not state specifically that a scout has to renounce his belief or a particular religion is the only religion. The Scout can complete all other requirements and part of those requirements is to honor and respect a religous belief of some type. If the scout does not complete this part, he has not met all requirements just as not obtaining a high enough GPA to be admitted to the Honor Society. It's a requirement. His rights to be scout is still there. His rights to believe is still there. His rights as a human being is still intact. His freedom has not be taken. My definition of religious discrimination? ... you can't join our swim team if your religion is anything other than ... (feel in the blank)! You are barred from step foot into our club house because you believe in ...!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

"what happens if an atheist student wants to join a unit chartered by the school?" You bet ya ... he will be able to join any troop or pack. He will be able to participate in all activities. He will be awarded the belt loops and skills awards that he accomplished or completed. You bet ya. Will he be rank advanced? Has he completed all the requirements for the rank as prescribed? If religious belief is a requirement, then no. This is not a "rights" issue. This is an advancement "requirements" issue. This is a rule that he has to follow to be awarded the rank! If a boy does not want to spar with an opponent because his religion will not allow to be combative and it is a requirement for the next belt (let's say from white to yellow) testing in Tae-kwon-do, will the master grant him the belt advancement if the boy decides to "sit out" during the sparring? I think not. Is the Tae-kwon-do master prejudiced or denied the boy his rights to the yellow belt? Is the ACLU going to run interferrence to protect his rights? If the answer is yes ... then the ACLU will be defending every person in the US for everything that is not suitable to him/her! Man ... where was ACLU when I didn't win the lottery! I didn't like the result! Apparently, the state of Texas is prejudiced against people like me who only believe in buying one lottery ticket! I feel that my rights to win is not be looked after! On the other note, I chose to allow my sons to join BSA because I (along with other parents) agree with its philosophy and teaching. I and other parents in the troop grant the priviledge for an adult to teach and lead our sons. If the adult does not agree to teach our sons the philosophy and teachings that BSA has laid out and we (as parents of the boys) have agreed upon, we do not have to allow that adult to lead. There is no right being trembled on! If this adult insists on his/her philosophy then create the club, association or union that reflects his/her philosophy. Ah, the beauty of being an American, you can actually do that! You don't have to subscribe to a single mandate! You have freedom! Hence the existence of hate groups, religious groups, non-religious groups, etc. ... Try to actually walk in others shoes first before preaching about lack of rights! Sir ... you have no ideas the difference between rights and priviledge! I'm fairly sure that the ACLU will not hire a known, active, KKK or Neo-nazi activist on their staff. Why? This person does not conform to the ideals of ACLU! There are ideals that BSA's phisophy and foundation are based upon ... the same as any club, association, and union!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

ACLU is there to protect the rights of everyone. Being a leader in a Troop or a Pack is not a right, it's a priviledge and that priviledge is determined by the parents whose sons' interests are at hand. The eagle award is an award for achieving the REQUIREMENTS set forth. It is not a RIGHT! If a requirement is not met, the award is not granted ... no "ands" "ifs" or "buts!" If a high school student who did pass a required class, do we grant him/her a diploma anyway? There are no rights being trembled on. There are no group of people being denied of their rights! ACLU has more than enough of legitimate human rights issues to concentrate on. 'Nough said from me on this subject! Merlyn ... you don't have to preach to me about the needs to protect rights ... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I should know about it well. From time to time in the 30 years that I am living in the States, I'm on the receiving end! ScoutingAgain ... there is no problem of meeting at the school. It's the relationship that was built with the Principal and the school staff. It's also finding another CO who's willing to adopt a Pack our size. The area that we are in is packed with troops and packs. Many packs are being chartered by schools! I'm just fuming! That's all.(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Now ... I'm twirked the wrongest way with the ACLU! They are breaking up a great relationship that our Pack has with the Elementary School for the last 9 years! This is part of an email from our DE: The BSA has made a decision to no longer charter to any government institution, this includes schools, municipalities, military, police, or city fire departments. The reason is that the ACLU, in its ongoing campaign against the Boy Scouts, has started suing any government institution that charters a Scout unit. In order to stop this avenue of attack, and to protect our friends in government from unwarranted harassment, BSA has instructed all of the Councils to identify new non-governmental Charter Partners for any of our units currently attached to a governmental institution. We are working on this and will have all of our District's units moved before the end of the year. If we could not find a CO, it looks as if it may be tail ... our boys lose! That's 100+ of them! I hope that the ACLU is very proud of their deeds!(This message has been edited by OneHour)

What? Engineer jokes and I haven't put mine in? I'm an engineer ... a geek at that! Proud to be a geek, 'cause you can't spell geek without a double e's (EE)! Top Ten Things Engineering School didn't Teach You 1. There are at least 10 types of capacitors. 2. Theory tells you how a circuit works, not why it does not work. 3. Not everything works according to the specs in the databook. 4. Anything practical you learn will be obsolete before you use it, except the complex math, which you will never use. 5. Engineering is like having an 8 a.m. class and a late afternoon lab every day for the rest of your life. 6. Overtime pay? What overtime pay? 7. Managers, not engineers, rule the world. 8. Always try to fix the hardware with software. 9. If you like junk food, caffeine and all-nighters, go into software. 10. Dilbert is not a comic strip, it's a documentary. ************************ - How many first year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb? None. That's a second year subject. - How many second year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the rest of the class copies the report. - How many third year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb? "Will this question be in the final examination?" - How many civil engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to do it and one to steady the chandelier. - How many electrical engineers does it take to change a light bulb? None. They simply redefine darkness as the industry standard. - How many computer engineers does it take to change a light bulb? "Why bother? The socket will be obsolete in six months anyway." - How many mechanical engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to decide which way the bulb ought to turn, one to calculate the force required, one to design a tool with which to turn the bulb, one to design a comfortable - but functional - hand grip, and one to use all this equipment. - How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Seven. One to install the new bulb and six to figure out what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years. ************************ An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician are shown a pasture with a herd of sheep, and told to put them inside the smallest possible amount of fence. The engineer is first. He herds the sheep into a circle and then puts the fence around them, declaring, "A circle will use the least fence for a given area, so this is the best solution." The physicist is next. She creates a circular fence of infinite radius around the sheep, and then draws the fence tight around the herd, declaring, "This will give the smallest circular fence around the herd." The mathematician is last. After giving the problem a little thought, he puts a small fence around himself and then declares, "I define myself to be on the outside!" ********************** Five surgeons were taking a coffee break and were discussing their work. The first said, "I think accountants are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is numbered." The second said, "I think librarians are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order." The third said, "I like to operate on electricians. You open them up and everything inside is color-coded." The fourth one said, "I like to operate on lawyers. They're heartless, spineless, gutless, and their heads and their rear are interchangeable." The fifth surgeon says "I like engineers . They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end." ******************* An engineer was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want." Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week, and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog - now, that's cool!"

Our Pack does not have personal account. It's too difficult and time-consuming to manage 100+ accounts. We do set a minimum sell for each scout (not mandatory). We also laid out the costs and showed the Pack how much it costs to run the Pack and our financial status. They have two choices: 1) either support the fundraiser or 2) the Pack will have to raise Pack dues. If we do not meet our fundraising goals, we will run the funds as long as we can (directing the funds to awards, cutting out Pack sponsored events such as campouts, etc.) and stop all expenditures after the funds are emptied from that point the parents can fund the awards individually and pay individually for events. Knock on wood, but so far we manage to carry over about $500 every year. Good luck (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines!)

Dog! ... Tort! ... you've gotten my vote as Mayor of Houston at the next go around!

tort, neah ... it's better to tilt the Earth's axis about 5 northward and then move the mountain. Better yet, the mole hills in Austin would do just fine! I'm game. I have $1 ... when do we start?

Wyomingi and Prarie ... we do have a little pride down here in Tx. In our Council (SHAC), our "winter camp patch" requirements are camping three (3) days and two (2) nights as a Scout unit with temperatures of 42.5 and less ... yep, the freezing temperature of 42.5! The kids went wild when it actually snowed down here (Houston) this past Xmas! Oh well, we get whatever we can!

SWScouter ... I was wondering about that as well, but he was not the only tenderfoot there . I'm fairly sure that it was the case where they are at least 2nd class or better and just did not have the time to sew on their current rank. They have to have completed the required campouts and were elected by their peers to be there. I didn't need to question. A scout is trustworthy and if they are there and they are only tenderfeet then it is not their fault, it's their troop's error. That particular young man joined his troop middle of last year. So if I had to guess, he had to be at least 2nd class. By the way, we talked while waiting for the ordeal weekend to begin. 1Hour (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines.)

mjengels, from the little experience that I have with cub scout and from what I learned, here is my observation: if you make it all work and no play, then cub scouting will be a chore and the boys will loose interest. Cub scouting is suppose to be a fun time to play while learning and it involves the cub scout and his family. A lot of the requirements are designed to be worked by a cub scout and his parent at home. To me 4 boys is too small of a den. Granted that there are a lot that can be done with a small group; however, if one or two boys were to be absent, then you don't have much of a den with 2 boys. Also, the boys need to be in the environment of 6-8 boys so that they can learn to work together and they start to learn the concept of leadership (denner) over their peers. By the time they get into boy scout, they will have been introduced to the concept of patrol and its leadership style, namely boy-lead. Starting from tiger through bear, you'll find that the den tends to play a lot more than have structured requirements to work on and eventually more structured den meetings at the bear level. Even if they have the requirements, the den leader usually works it into a fun game, craft, outing, etc. Reaching webelos, the den meetings become structured with the denner (and den chief) assists in develop the den meetings and help run the den meetings. So, to me, the ideal size of a den is around 6-8 boys. To say that you would like less fooling and more learning is a recipe to loose boys. Remember that a boy has about 8 hours of class time already before he gets to the den meeting. He will not look forward to another 1 to 1.5 hour of class time again. There are plenty of creative ways to teach while having fun. My suggestion to you is to suggest and work with the current den leader on how to incorporate the requirements into the fun and game. He has the right idea of fun. He just needs to work in a few small requirements here and there. The Cub Scout's "Program Guide" is a great resource to set up a den meeting that includes fun and requirements as the same time. For example, the boys can learn how to tie a couple of the knots (about 10 minutes) and have a relay race on tying the knots (20 minutes) or how about learn about collection (5-10 minutes) and have an excavation expedition in the yard for various things (20-30 minutes). The remainder of time play steal the bacon or simon says or ... etc. There are so many things that can be done to make a boy wanting to come back. I learned my lesson several years ago as a new tiger den leader. I didn't think that the den was doing what cub scouts are suppose to do. As you are, I thought that they need to learn something about scouting and the requirements are the only things that need to be done in the den meeting. One or two of the boys stopped coming to the den meeting. I then realized that they don't want to hear lectures (the parents seem to like it, but not the kids). Yes, they need to do the requirements, but not through lecturing. I learned to be creative in incorporating fun in the lecture. Another example, for the bear requirement of folklore, I had a brief intro to folklore and the proceeded to show them the Walt Disney's "American Legends" complete with popcorn and drink. They loved it! I requested that lot of the requirements are to be done at home and the parents (akela) can sign off (until they get to Webelos) Good luck, 1Hour (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines!)(This message has been edited by OneHour)

As it was posted by dancingfox once before: "Old Scouters never die, they just take up other positions!" 1Hour (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines, at least not on this forum!)

amouse, first of all, a great decision to join scout at 15. It proves that scouting can be started at any age! You have three things to use to get to eagle, 1) your handbook, it will tell you exactly what you need to get to eagle, 2) your troop, the adults and your fellow scouts will help you if you need it, and finally 3) your determination to get there. Remember that you have up to the time that you are 17 years old 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds to complete all requirements. The Eagle Scout board of review can be held after the your 18th birthday. But as Prairie_Scouter pointed, enjoy the experience, the knowledge, the friendship, and the sights along the way. The very best of luck to you. 1Hour ps: at the OA Ordeals this past weekend, I met a young man who is about 16. He is only a tenderfoot. It turns out that he just joined a troop not too long ago. He didn't really talk about wanting to be an eagle scout. He just wanted to be in scouting because he has always wanted and never had the time ... and now he has the time. (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines, at least not on this forum!)(This message has been edited by OneHour)

In our troop, we do not have requirements; however, we lead by examples. The adult patrol would cook a fine (smelling and tasting) meal in the dutch ovens (DO) or the stoves and proceed to enjoy our meals. It caught some of the boys' eyes. They started to ask something along the line ... "The adults are lucky. You all eat so well!" We simply replied, "You can eat like this as well!" They usually responded curiously, "Really? How?" We showed them that camping does not mean that you can't eat well and healthily. We would teach them if they ask. We made available recipes books, links, and notes. My son then asked me to teach him how to cook with the DO. At the next campout, his patrol cooked the meatloaf in the DO. It was a far cry from stirred can of Chef-Boyd R D. The other patrols took notice and tried other recipes at the subsequent campouts (pizza in the DO for example). Intentionally, we allow the SPL and his direct reports to eat the adult patrol from time to time to give the taste of good cooking. Hopefully, they will encourage other scouts to take on the fine art camp cooking. It takes time by this method, but they learn it and they like it! Now that the adults in our troop have developed a reputation for our cooking, we may use it to our advantage! We may offer to cook for the patrol that shows the most patrol spirit (judged by the adult leaders) at a campout! This serves two purposes ... 1) develop the needed patrol spirits within our troop 2) further our lesson of cooking at campout! By the way, our new scouts are taught how to cook and what constitutes a nutritious meal first. They are guided by Troop Guides who eat with them! 1Hour ps: We do not band them from taking the short cut to cooking; however, if they elect to, they would get a nutrition question and answer session from me or one of the scoutmasters about their choice after the campout based on what is being taught in the handbook. So, we do follow up with them on their choice of meals in terms of nutrition. (The above information are only my own opinions. Please do not take them as guidances and/or teachings for I am not qualified to teach the exact the BSA's methodologies or guidelines, at least not on this forum!)(This message has been edited by OneHour)

... excuse me Miss, as a scout, I was taught to "be prepared," but I don't think that I can ever be prepared to meet such beauty as the one who is standing before me ... ... excuse me Miss, but can you help me? After seeing you, I'm all knotted up inside! ... ... excuse me Miss, but do you want to know something very parculiar? My heart acts like a compass! It leads me straight to you. ... excuse me Miss, I need to do my good turn daily. I can help you to know me better? (man ... it has been a while! Have never regretted my choice for the past 15 years and never will!)(This message has been edited by OneHour)