Scouter&mom

Yeah, that kind of thing made me seriously think about homeschool, but that cut out the two reasons my son attends school.... marching band and ROTC... thank goodness, my youngest only has until MAY..

You think this was bad. in 2002 a young man was EXPELLED from high school, because someone reported and adminstrators learned, he had a steak knife in the back of his truck in the high school parking lot. He never attempted to take it in school; he had carried it camping the weekend before and apparently didn't clean out his truck well. What made this really bad, was this young man was 18 yrs old, a senior and this happened in a rural county in South Georgia, three weeks before the young man was to graduate. He was not even able to graduate, because no school would allow him to transfer in and graduate, that close to the end of the year. He ended up having to take the GED and loose out on the state scholarship program for HS graduates with a 3.0 GPA. And that is the advantage of a school having a ZERO Tolerance policy. Yeah, and I am so glad, we only have a few more months before I don't have to deal with the school system anymore.

You think this was bad. in 2002 a young man was EXPELLED from high school, because someone reported and adminstrators learned, he had a steak knife in the back of his truck in the high school parking lot. He never attempted to take it in school; he had carried it camping the weekend before and apparently didn't clean out his truck well. What made this really bad, was this young man was 18 yrs old, a senior and this happened in a rural county in South Georgia, three weeks before the young man was to graduate. He was not even able to graduate, because no school would allow him to transfer in and graduate, that close to the end of the year. He ended up having to take the GED and loose out on the state scholarship program for HS graduates with a 3.0 GPA. And that is the advantage of a school having a ZERO Tolerance policy. Yeah, and I am so glad, we only have a few more months before I don't have to deal with the school system anymore.

I admit that like Skeptic, I need a cot (or air mattress) to sleep, because of what age and being an adventurous klutz has done to my joints. I also can see times when having the camp site set up --- tent, chairs, and other basics -- would encourage me to camp more. There are several weekends coming up this fall, that my son and I would love to camp... but he has a football game to be at on Friday night and has to ride the bus to the game. One in particular is less than 30 miles from a great state park, that he has never visited. So I am trying to plan if I can get there and get camp set up, go the ballgame, pick him up afterward and off to the park. The thing that most concerns me is trying to set up a tent by myself... as I said, I am klutz.. and I don't know if I can get the poles and tent up without at least one other person. For me it would be worth it for the weekend, to pay the extra and have it set up... and the best part would be I wouldn't have to break camp either.. no trying to wait on tent to dry .. or folding wet and then spreading it out in the garage when I get home.. sounds like a good plan to me. No I don't believe that having the tent set up takes away from the experience.. I know I can put up a tent... I have done it too many times.. why not enjoy the camping without the stress?

Be sure and ask your SM if your council provides any type of campership. Our council has funds set aside for Scouts who can't afford the full cost. I think it usually pays half the cost of camp, so the Scout, his troop and his parents only have to come up with the balance. The other thing that may be available are members of your troop CO or other individuals who will help with a Scouts needs. Please though be prepared to work to at least thank the individual who helped. My only concern is did your troop participate in council fundraisers and did you participate in troop fundraisers to help with the cost of camp. Our council campership application requires the SM signature stating that he knows the Scout has made the effort to help. Even the campership can be done very discreetly so only a few who have a "need to know" know that you received the financial aid.

Our local council camp is not doing COPE this year for purely monetary reasons. They chose not to spend the money for the required inspections (and any resultant repairs). COPE is not a big draw for our council camp. Making repairs required to open the pool and repairs to road washed out by spring flooding were both much more essential to camp. Whether it was just priority or true shortage of funds, I don't know. But I know without the pool open many troops wouldn't have come. And if the road had not been repaired, troops would not have been able to get into campsites. So no pool or no road, no camp. COPE doesn't get the emphasis here.

having very limited WW experience, and the knowledge that I don't know anything, I would love to see a BSA River guide or similar position come into existance. However, this position should be accessible to councils/units that plan to travel to another for WW. Our council really has very little WW.. some class II shoals and that is about it, we are generally home to slow flat moving water (except during flood times). There are several WW rivers within a couple hundred miles, that have lots of professional guides, but it would be nice to have a Scouter contact to help find the way through all the promises you find on-line from those guide companies.

As a trainer and training event chairman, I want to encourage you to go to the trainings with an open mind. Do not let your experience close your mind. If I had a dollar for each time I heard "I have been Scouting for xxx years, why do I need to go to training again?" I could go ahead and retire, and devote all my time to Scouting. Even if the class is one you have had before, you are likely to learn new things. At the very least, you will meet new people to network with.

Funny you mentioned seeing primarily old style pants and shorts on EBay. That's what I go there for. My son is wearing and wearing and wearing his switchbacks. Bought extras for summer camp staff this year, cause he didn't want to wear old style shorts (which he has a pile of from Jambo 05). But I have been hunting an extra pair or two of the old style for me. They fit my short feminine shape better than the switchbacks. The switchbacks are WAY too long in the stride, when I get a size to fit the rest of my shape. So old style for me, switchbacks for my son. I think I may take his old style out of his closet and pass them on to someone else.

I forget you northern folks are just getting out of school and starting summer camp. Next week is the last week in our council, but even the councils around that have 6 weeks are through by mid-July. We think we try to finish before the heat of July and August, but this year we sure got fooled. Today is the first in six that temp has been below 100. Sunday when kids were checking in, temp was 101 and heat index was 110. Medical staff was sure busy watching out for heat stress.

If you are not that great at sewing, I would recommend that you take the pants to a tailor and have them fix them. Many full service dry-cleaners have alteration/repair services. Zippers are difficult especially on something like a leg. If you are determined to do it, go to a fabric store... here we have a large chain JoAnns.. and get someone to help you find the right kind of sipper.. and the thread. They may can recommend someone who can do the repair for you too. I would really recommend getting someone who knows what they are doing for this task. I am experienced, just don't do it often now, and I would pay someone to do it for me. Beyond my patience level. It's worth it to have it done right, and me not to have to fight it.

I have not used the training trax Neal mentioned, but I have used their Webelos trax and liked it enough, that when I resumed being WDL after a couple of years absence, the first thing I did was download the latest update. Now I am ready to get my boys going. If the training one is anything like the others, they are simple to use and simple to create reports when you need one.

Don't know how other states are, but here in GA we have the GA High School Graduation Tests, for most required classes in high school. Since the kids have to pass the test to graduate, too much of class time is spent teaching to the test. The number one goal on my son's world history syllabus was to pass the world history portion of the GHSGT. Not to learn anything.. The same with US history this year. And we wonder why young people don't know anything. They have to learn what they need to pass the test (and yes, that means we have special editions of textbooks to help) so we don't have time to actually discuss what is happening. But that also keeps us from offending anyone if we have a thought that is different from the rest of the group. Thankfully my son is also in JROTC, where he is allowed to learn a little more of the whys of history and allowed to think.

The local school district where mostof our cubs come from has a uniform policy, which includes navy pants. So we tell our boys where their blue school pants.. Parents are happy because they dont have to buy more.. and boys are used to those pants.. Every fall all the stores have sales on those pants, since so many elementary school kids have to have them. There are even companies that come in and do a big uniform sale at civic center late summer. This gives the boys a chance to get involved and be sure they stay involved before parents spend money on Scout pants.

Yeah I did, and my son too. We both thought it was a good segment. The only thing, it added to my son's wish list. He wants the book... the Ashley's knot book that they mentioned.