perdidochas

Was the DUI before or after he became a scout leader? IMHO, that's the only relevant issue you've brought up. His relationship with his son is probably very complicated, and you don't know the whole story. The violence is just hearsay, and if they didn't go to the police with it, IMHO, it wasn't that bad. I don't think you have the whole story on him, and it would be a shame if you slandered his name without the full evidence.

I think the decision on the above should be up to the parents and the scout. I held my son back for academic reasons. We started by his progressing by age. We then switched to by grade. Yes, he repeated Bear, but that was fine as his second year of Bear was my year as a Bear leader, and he helped out. It's worked out well, as he seems to have more in common with his grade peers than with his age peers. With an August birthday, he was either going to be the youngest in his classes (or after we held him back) among the oldest.

I would look into alternative requirements. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/earlyalt.aspx

Promise them s'mores. I'm serious. S'mores is the gateway to camping for most indoor people.

While not two grades, we held my son back in the second grade. He was a wolf his first year in second grade, a bear his second year in second grade, and then we kept him at bear for third grade, etc. I found it worked better, because it put him with his grade peers. The down side, is that he lost one year of eligibility for working on BSA advancement. It's ok--he became an Eagle at 15 anyway. I'd put the boy in Bear, and keep him with his grade peers. I think the way it reads, as long as he's in third grade, he can be a Cub Scout. Fourth and Fifth grade, he can be a Webelos. That said, if he really wanted, he could join Boy Scouts in January. I would not recommend that at all. Below is quoted from the Scout Application form. Note, it doesn't say that a Cub Scout can't be older than 10.

I think I would have sat down and let Mr. X take over. I'd tell him, I'll buy him his Den Leader's patch, and would email him the URL for Training. Next week, I'm having coffee at Starbucks with my wife.

Thanks for all the advice. My initial thoughts were to make it a coed crew, but until I can get female leadership, that will have to go on hold. My oldest son has several female friends who wish that Girl Scouts would go on outings like our troop--that is why they didn't stay in Girl Scouts. I have also thought about just doing this as a Venture Patrol, and that's part of why I asked here. I do very much like BadenP's idea. I have no intention of running this like a troop. I also like qwazse's idea of having the scouts each plan an event. I think our group will be like leCastor's, in terms of interests--aquatics and backpacking.

I'm thinking about starting a Venture Crew. What are some things I need to consider before forming one? The motivation is that some of our Troop's older boys want higher adventure. I would like to go on more streamlined campouts--fewer boys who know what they are doing, and be able to do so more quickly. We wouldn't be what I consider a full time crew--I'm thinking about 5 outings a year (vs. the 10+ outings the Troop does), and one or two meetings a month.

Depends on your definition of agnostic...... I don't see how an agnostic could acknowledge a duty to God--but I know I could be wrong on this, I just can't see it myself based on my view of agnostics (having been raised by an agnostic father/Catholic mother). I can, however, see how other non-Christian religions could acknowledge a duty to God. I grew up as part of a religious minority--a Catholic in the Southeast in one of the two dioceses in the U.S. that have the least number of Catholics per capita in the U.S. I understand all of that. I don't see how this will be a problem.

I think an evangelical scoutmaster would already be doing this, and would probably run out non-Christians anyway (whether purposefully or not). Also, IMHO, most of the more vocally evangelicals probably are in Trail's Life now....

Why? Duty to God is a very personal thing, and honestly, I don't think there is a right/wrong answer, but rather it's a participation grade. In other words, the SM should just be ensuring that the scout is thinking and doing whatever the Scout feels his duty to God is.

Also, if you have a tablet (android or ipad), you can get an animated knots program. Should get your kids interest. Also, practice, practice, practice before starting to teach the knots.

First, forget worksheets, find diagrams. (to me worksheets implies blanks to fill out). Google Boy Scout knots, and you should be able to find some pretty good diagrams of the 6 knots.The 6 Boyscout Knots at meritbadge.org is pretty good. By poly do you mean polyester or do you mean polypropylene? I wouldn't recommend polypropylene for scout knot tying. I'd be careful with polyester, if it has a center that is made of a different substance. I have troubles getting it to fuse right. Ideally, you would tape, then melt, then whip. That said, I usually just melt.

Try a hammock.

Just a minor thing. There are two separate events--AOL ceremony and bridging (crossover). The AOL ceremony is a Pack ceremony. Bridging or crossover is a Troop ceremony. From what I can tell, the trend nationwide is for the Webelos to crossover in the spring. We've had boys come over to the troop anytime between January and May. This is the CC's oldest son, isn't it? My wife didn't like the idea that my oldest was leaving the Pack and becoming a Boy Scout either. It's a hard transition. At least around here, another justification for doing the crossover in the Spring of the 5th grade year is that if you are in an area with middle schools (6-8), then you add another stressor to the boys-=-not only are they changing schools, but they are also changing from the Pack to the Troop. I've found that earlier is better. It helps the boys to really transition into the Troop before summer camp. The more campouts they get before summer camp, the better off the boys are at summer camp.

Sorry, I didn't explain it well. The problem is with the WDL (who is the parent of a boy that was in the troop, up until the time his younger brother crossed over), who very much dislikes one of the committee members and me(an Assistant Scout Master). The three of us had at one time (when his oldest son, and my youngest son were Wolves) been pretty close friends. We had a falling out. After the falling out, he became a WDL for his younger son. Everything seemed to be going fine, and the Webelos were coming to crossover--they had camped with us in October, and attended our meetings. We had provided Den Chiefs for them (yes, one of them was the older brother). Then in February, the WDL started to tell people about how unaccommodating our troop was (and before that he had commented to one of our committee members about how he thought our troop wasn't disciplined enough). They all, but one, went to another troop across town (about a 45 minute drive). The one who joined us was a fairly new Webelos, and had not gotten AOL. Good kid, and I'm glad he decided to stay with us. We have one or two scouts that do have younger brothers in the Pack. I don't think we have a problem with the Pack as a whole, just with their former WDL. We are working to strengthen the relationship.

My boys, both Brotherhood OA members, would be disappointed if they had to leave an OA event early. I don't understand the people in the OP, unless there was a conflict.

Things like that do happen. We had a WDL in our COR's Pack that intensely disliked a few of the troop adult leaders. He not only lead most of his Webelos to a pack across town, he made many disparaging statements about our troop in talking to other parents, some of which are untruths. His oldest son was in our troop for several years, and when his younger son was about to cross over, he started this crap. Thankfully, we have a good reputation, so while we lost his group of crossovers, we have gotten enough crossovers from other packs to keep us going. It's sad, because the COR's Pack is a decent pack, and we missed their boys.

While it's informal (and we don't line up), the SM, ASMs and whatever parents are along act as a patrol on campouts. We cook, clean, eat together. Now, we don't plan menus together--we volunteer to plan the menu and shop.

GM, Here's a link to the offiicial MB requirements: http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx Click on a MB to find out the requirements. the ones with silver borders are Eagle required. It's easier for a MB counselor to just read answers that a child writes on a worksheet than to listen to their explanations verbally. MB counselors are not allowed to add or subtract from the requirements. Unless the actual requirement says "write" there is no writing required. Just looked at some MBs, there are some that require more writing than I expected--Personal management for one. Most or the writing required in the Eagle required badges is making plans/menus/etc.

GM, First, in terms of advancement until First Class, I can't think of any of it that requires writing. In fact, I can't recall many Eagle required MB requirements that require writing, For example, Citizenship in the Nation only has one thing that requires writing--that is to write a letter to a your U.S. Senator or house member. The rest of that MB are all discuss, describe, etc., none of which require writing. Unless the specific requirement states to write it out, In terms of making the jump, talk to different troops. Our troop has a variety of boys with processing and other problems. I think the IEP is overboard and inappropriate. It is to be used by professionall educators who are trained in assisting with special ed. It is not an appropriate thing for a volunteer counselor to be bullied into agreeing to by fear of lawsuits. I'd quit first. That's not to say I'm not sympathetic and wouldn't accommodate those differences, but IMHO, the IEP and threat of lawsuits is beyond what I volunteer to do. It turns being a Scout leader into a legalistic nightmare. I'd find another organization to volunteer with. I do think that you and prospective troops need to discuss this issue. In terms of the MB counselors, you and your friend can sign up to become MB counselors. Then, you could counsel your friend's son and vice versa, and avoid that counselor.

Well, as a Boy Scout leader who isn't a big fan of Camporees, I would definitely say crews shouldn't be at Camporees. Why subject them to that torture? I thought you could be in OA and jsut be a Venture Scout, not dual enrolled.

Lawsuit? What for? You're volunteers.

Cubmaster should be filling out the trip permits, IMHO.