Snow_White

Our pack uses the craft-stick method described by basementdweller, and it seems to work well. At the Bear level, I have worked with Scouts that have had some experience handling knives at home, and some that I don't think have ever cut up the food on their plate at dinner. So, the wooden knives seem to be a safe place to start. For the soap carving, make sure the soap is fresh - it hardens quickly, and then it flakes and is more difficult to work with. I haven't tried it myself, but I wouldn't think that a plastic knife would work well for this because of the serrations. As mentioned by others, make sure that you are following any rules that your meeting place may have about knives on their premises.

evmori, I'm wondering - what makes you say that? Do you really believe that a council would do that? ('m not trying to be argumentative with you, just trying to understand what you are saying. My son is not yet at the point where I've seen how the Eagle process works.)

There still seems to be confusion about this. The local Scout Shop is telling CS Leaders and Webelos buying the Centennial uniform that they should get green/tan unit numbers. I thought all CS and CS leaders were to have red/white unit numbers, regardless of which uniform?

bear dad, For example, under the Country group, the Scout must complete three of the five listed achievements. Let's say that you have been checking off various requirements under each of the five as your Scout does the activities, and on Oct 12, you have checked off enough requirements to complete What Makes America Special, on Oct 13, you have checked off enough to complete Tall Tales, and on Oct 14, enough to complete Take Care of Your Planet. The software will apply these three achievements toward the Bear badge. Any requirements that you check off (even if already checked off)under Sharing Your World with Wildlife and Law Enforcement is a Big Job will then count as electives. The main point I was making is that the system will not give you a way to tell it "I want to apply Law Enforcement to the Bear badge and use What Makes America Special for electives". If you want to do it that way, you have to put it in that order. Hope this is clearer.

bear dad, DOn't have a Bear handbook handy at the moment - will give you a more detailed response later this evening when I can quote a real-life example.

AnaMaria, My reading of the program materials is the same as yours. But our Tiger DL was told at New Leader Training that the tiger paw emblem cane be given out before Bocat is earned, but that black/orange/white beads cannot be given out until after Bobcat. I was curious as to whether anyone here can provide a source for that information, becuase I have not been able to find it documented. However, I don't want to get too nitpicky on the minutiae - in a better world, they would all earn Bobcat so quickly that it wouldn't be an issue!

Here is a related question for all of you. The Tiger book says that the Tiger badge cannot be earned until the Bobcat badge is earned. I couldn't find anywhere that it stated whether or not black/white/orange beads can be earned prior to the Bobcat badge. Our Tiger den leader was told at new leader training that the beads cannot be given out until they earn Bobcat. Has anyone ever seen this in writing? (Not really a big deal, just curious.)

Popcorn / other fundraising Coordinator Newsletter We ask a parent to coordinate pack participation in each individual district event (Day Camp, Bike Rodeo, Klondike Derby...). Takes some of the pressure off CM and DL's, and gets participation from parents who are hesitant to take on a year-round position. Committee members: CC, Treasurer, Secretary, Advancement Coordinator, Pack Trainer

I was getting ready to post here last night but got interrupted at home. "Me too" to what ScoutNut said. Part of the design of the program is that as Scouts get older, they get to make more of their own choices as to what they do. Though from what I hear, this might change a bit next year when the new replacement for program helps is rolled out, as it seems that there will be more of a focus on working achievements into the den meetings. Also, to ScoutNut's earlier comment on deciding which to use for achievements vs. electives... FWIW, our pack uses ScoutTrack to track advancement. The software will apply the achievements in the order they are completed first toward the Bear badge (within each section, of course), with any extra counting as electives. Just something to be aware of if you are using a program instead of manual tracking.

Cub Scout Myths: Scouts must earn their rank badge for that year by the time of the Blue & Gold. The primary purpose of the Blue & Gold Banquet is to provide a "graduation ceremony" for the Webelos II's.

I agree that 22 is way too large a den size! In addition to the logistical problems, I don't see how a den leader can get to know the scouts as individuals, understand if they are facing advancement challenges and need additional guidance, etc... I would guess that some of the den activities end og being more like classroom exercises with that many, as well. My son's den has consistently been the largest in our pack, varying between 9 - 13 from Tigers through Webelos. At times, we have thought about splitting, but no one really wanted to address how we would do the split, keeping friends together, recruiting new leaders. We have been able to keep the den on track because we have a pretty involved parent base helping out - the den leaders wouldn't have been able to do it on their own.