5yearscouter

As for Bears going to Webelos day camp type thing before they are Webelos... I will suspect that no matter what activity pins they do at that camp, they will be a bit rushed, and not quite completed. As a going into webelos den leader, I would treat it as an introduction to the Webelos activity pins, and an introduction to being Webelos. I would note everything they do there, but not plan on "signing off" on any particular thing in anyones books. Once the event is over, and the boys actually start doing webelos, I might sign stuff off that was done at that time. I would go thru the requirements and make my plan for the year of which activity pins to do in what order. When we are working on a particular activity pin, if some boy comes to me and says I did this at that camp, and I know and watched them do it with some measure of understanding or ability at that event (I expect webelos to do most of the time, not just attempt to do) then I'd sign that part of the achievement for them. But for many things we are likely to do that particular thing again, especially since we are bound to get more kids in our den at August roundup and unless it's an optional activity pin we'd have to go back and review it anyway for the new guys. I use it as a way to reinforce to the scouts now that most skills in life are not just one time and done, eh? But I wouldn't be cranky about it, and I wouldn't deny anyone anything, and I'd make it fun and do it a different way if we are repeating it if at all possible so they'd never really notice I made them do it 2 times.

"5year - While belt loops are required for some Webelos Activity Badges, the only Badge that is required for a Webelos to earn, that requires the earning of a belt loop, is Citizen. All others are optional Badges, or optional requirements. " I understand that Citizen is the only required webelos activity pin that is required for Webelos badge or AOL. Of course the AOL requires 8 other badges in varying areas so it is likely that a boy will complete another activity pin that includes a belt loop as a requirement or as an "easy" option. I recommend that a Webelos den leader try to introduce each of the 20 activity pins to their den, so boys with different interests all have a chance to shine. The sports fanatics can work on those 4 belt loops and the nerds that love science can sport the science belt loop as part of scientist. It keeps den meetings more interesting if there is always something new or different going on, not just pencil whipping the book to check off 8 badges and be done. Of course, Den leaders don't complete all requirements of all the badges, leaving lots of room for each boy to pick and choose the badge they are interested in enough to complete on their own or a badge the boys didn't think they'd like, they all clamor for the den leader to help them complete. Like communicator they were all "do we have to" cause it seemed to them to be more school work, and then they started doing secret codes and morse code back and forth and they turned it into kind of a spy game and wandered off into other areas of electronic communication. We try to give a well rounded introductory education, so to speak, in all the webelos activity pin subjects to help them be ready for boy scouting. Helps if they've gone with their den and studied signs of wildlife in naturalist, they can more easily find the 10 animals when they are working on that achievement in boy scouting; they've worked on the map and compass belt loop/pin under traveler, so they are not as intimidated when it's time to orient a map and use a compass as a boy scout; they've worked on aquanaut so the swim test isn't such a scary thing as a boy scout first time jumping in the pool with all the eyes on them at summer camp.

We buy our arrows from a local archery shop. They will attach whatever colored fletching you want, stain the arrows, and glue on plastic stone looking arrow heads usually for about $6 or 7 depending on what they have in stock. Can buy 1 or 12 that way. We have parents who would rather their son not get an arrow if they have to make it. well maybe not quite that bad, but they hem and haw and can't get babysitting and we don't want the scouts working on their own arrows. Usually the den leader and asst, sometimes with cubmaster help get the arrows made. we have a spreadsheet in excel with the names of awards in order for the colors of the stripes, and spaces in between each stripe is the width of a type of craft masking tape we can get in a small dispenser. We make one spreadsheet section for each kid, tape it on the arrow with a bit of hang down, then line up the masking tape with each blank spot on the spreadsheet and tape the arrows up. then put them in a box with a notch out and start painting. we use mostly the orange, red, yellow, white, green and blue you'd find in a standard testors set, with addition of a testors gold and silver and sometimes we get a light blue for bobcat etc. Then we usually attach a bit of sinew around the plastic arrowhead to make it look like it's tied on, a bit of leather to make a hanger, and sometimes tie on a couple of feathers to hang down. one den put on a bead on the hanging leather for each webelos badge they earned because they were tired of painting stripes. we print a fresh copy of the kid's little spreadsheet that says which badges & awards they earned and put it in an envelope with a thank you and congratulations card so they have it for their records. the arrows hang free, they aren't on a plaque or anything special like that. My oldest does OA crossover and AOL ceremonies, and hands the boys their arrows. He's had a few that got carried away with what is on the arrow--the biggest display included a blanket with all their cub scout patches on it hanging from the arrow, and then cous bead necklaces giving a bead for each meeting, uniform, event, activity over 5 years and those beads hang on the arrow too. gets hard to keep it neat in clean and not dragging thru the dirt when they pass them off to the scout at a campfire ceremony. and takes up a whole wall in their house if hey try to hang it.

1st order of business is discussion of the situation between the unit's key 3, CC, COR and CM. Agree to disagree, or come to a consensus, but no backstabbing, UC maybe should be present as an advisor. Then you have to recruit a new cubmaster. the only way to have to current cubmaster off your roster as cubmaster is to find a replacement. Council won't let the position be blank, and they won't put CC officially in that position. So get an Asst CM to fill out CM application or recruit a new person for the job. Note, CM will then move to ACM on your roster unless you make official request for him to be removed from your roster which can be a big headache to get that done.

Will you be flying in or driving in? I probably can make you a pretty good itinerary if you are flying into phoenix and driving up. I've acted as tour guide on that quite a bit, would need to tweak it to accomodate camping at all turns instead of hotel or family stays, eh? Hiking can be done at the canyon, hike down a trail from 8-11 stop for lunch and figure if you hike down for 3 hours it will take you 6 hours to get out. a bit less with kids if you've been doing hiking in the prior months so everyone is in shape. carry water of course, sunscreen! hats! I've NEVER done mule rides. I've seen too many mules pass by me while hiking the canyon to EVER want to go on a mule ride. They get too close to the edge for my liking even if they do have 4 feet. Stay at a campground on the rim or a ways away. we usually stay at one on the rim for 1-2 nights with the an all day hiking experience. you don't really appreciate the canyon until you've walked down into it a bit. You'll probably have to drive too far to get to somewhere you can get in that river to paddle and have it be an easy go for young scouts. Hiking the peaks, or riding the ski lift to the top in the summer where there is still snow is nice to do, show everyone that Arizona does have winter. Sunset crater is also a nice trip, with a visit to the lava caves. Kids would love a visit to slide rock in Sedona to get wet and play in the water. There are campgrounds and some nice hikes in that area like the west fork of oak creek. We always try to hit Montezumas castle and Montezumas well, to get a view of indian ruins. AZ has soooo much you can do depending on which way you want to head around the canyon.

I've seen boys pass who were moving their arms very slowly and kicking slightly to stay floating, because as soon as they stopped moving they were rocks. They weren't expending much energy which is the idea of floating, to save energy so you can stay out there on the water longer and not get tired out.

Citizen you must earn the citizenship belt loop. Sportsman you must earn 2 individual sports and 2 team sports belt loops Scientist you must earn the science belt loop. and a couple others you have options to earn belt loops. The first time you earn a belt loop, you get the card and the belt loop. If anyone re-earns a belt loop we suggest they do more and earn the pin but regardless we give the card but no 2nd belt loop. We also limit belt loops to 2 a month given in pack meetings[occasionally 3 if they actuall did them in den meetings or specific outings], to slow down the parents who go home and say ok johnny did this this this and he must have done this at school, and we end up with a den giving out 30 belt loops in one month. yes, we had a den with 4 boys in it and each got 30 belt loops at blue and gold a couple years ago. the advancement chair went and got them and packaged them up and then asked what we thought. the parents in that den ended up contributing some cash to pay for some of them cause that virtually depleted their dens awards budget for the whole year and they hadn't gotten their 10 silver arrows yet!

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We don't really talk much about transitioning to the tan shirt unti after the parents have paid for the summer camp for the boys as webelos. Then once that expense is past and we start the new school year, we mention that when the boys outgrow their blue shirts, or when they earn their webelos badges, they should move to the tan shirt. sometimes we have a couple of gung ho who go out and get it right away, but often they come in mostly patch less for a few months, and then earn webelos badge. and we have a couple who mom and dad aren't sure they are gonna stick around for long so they stay in blue--one stayed in blue til he crossed over to a boy scout troop and then quit before his first meeting and never bought a tan shirt. It's nice though if you can get all the boys to transition about the time they all get their webelos ranks. that gives them many months to wear the full complement of badges bobcat thru bear and show off to the pack, and then to transition up a level to the tan shirt as a group. when we are done with blue shirts, we make the fake animal skin display thing for craftsman(we never seem to get to it in the bear year) and they can strip off all patches and add them to it unless mom and dad want to put the blue shirt into a shadow box or something (then we try to give them directions to make one of those for even more craftsman projects). If they didn't earn tiger we make sure they get a webelos in diamond shape to help complete the whole set.

how do you reconcile the use of wine at scout leader meetings? I think I could get a LOT of parents to attend meetings if I served alcohol.....

ok, I'm not laughing, but I'm shaking my head and chuckling under my breath at "Hopefully (fingers crossed!), the local Advancement Committee that approves the MBC application is checking the Counselor requirements for the specific merit badges listed on the application." um, yeah. the way it seems to work in our council is that someone turns in to council a mb counselor info form and hopefully an adult application for position code 42. they get separated at this point the application goes to the Registrar, she processes the application and sends the merit badge counselor info form to the DE. The DE says "a scouter is trustworthy" so if they have filled out all the boxes, they are put on the district mb counselor list, eventually. right now to update the district mb counselor list from the time an app is turned in at council to the time the forms come back to me to update the list, is over 5 months and counting (how long I've been doing this and haven't seen any new ones come around back to me yet). Wherever possible, I try to get the application and mb counselor info form from the mb counselor. Then make me a copy of the mb counselor info form, and turn in copies to council. Then I add their name to the mb counselor list pending confirmation that their application has been approved at council. That seems to have gotten hung up in the processing of unit recharters and now we are on district recharters. Now council nor district have a process to tell a mb counselor, "yeah, you have passed the background check and we have all your paperwork and you can start acting as a mb counselor." Instead everyone assumes when the applications are turned in at council (or to their unit who may or may not turn them in at council) they can start working with youth. it is a big mess, and I'm trying to fix it a little bit, but it's a huge struggle. I haven't quite given up, but I at least have someone lined up to take over from me when I can't handle it anymore. I have a meeting next week to talk to the program director at council to see what can be done to make this work better. Cause right now it stinks. at least if I have contact with a mb counselor for one of the specialty badges, I ask for copies of certificates, and tell them all the training that is required. and I verify their ypt is done and any training details I can pull up on training validation at myscouting. It's more than the prior district mb counselor list guy was doing.

In our area, we kind of divide up recruiting at certain schools to certain packs. Even when 3 packs recruit from the same area, there tend to be different schools that the packs are primary to recruit at. Usually if a pack spins off of another pack, we have a meeting between unit commissioner(s), unit leaders and maybe the DE to come to an agreement of how to do it without fighting. If there are enough scouts to sustain 2 packs, then there is usually enough schools. Alternatively, you could request to do a join recruiting night this first year, and each unit gets up on stage and does their speak about the pack, hands out info, talks about their upcoming events, and then the other pack does the same. This tends to be boring, so see if both units can run a booth or two of activities for the boys to do and determine which unit to join. For new parents it tends to come down to night of the week and cost. if they undermine you on costs, make sure you note which things you'll be paying for from their registration fees and suggest that the parents check what the lower registration fee will cover. often a new pack will charge less, and then have to charge for each individual event, charge higher monthly dues, or have a fundraising quota, in order to come up with the funds for things like a pinewood derby track, etc. good luck figuring it out. try to take the high road. you'll sleep better at night. We recruit from 13 schools and have about 15 other schools that we get calls from(most are too far from us but there aren't any packs in those areas except LDS units). You want one of my schools to recruit from? unfortunately, we average about 3 scouts per school

The Guide to Advancement also says about registering MB counselors: "Merit badge counselors register at no fee, using the Boy Scouts of Americas standard adult registration form with position code 42. Designated members of the council or district advancement committee should provide the approval signature. The council advancement committee annually coordinates counselor reregistration. This may be done as part of the local council charter renewal process. A letter or message extending an invitation can be sent to each counselor who is to be approved for another year. Those identified as not following Boy Scouts of America policies and procedures, or not providing services as promised, should not be invited to return. ==>"Volunteers who are properly registered as merit badge counselors can renew annually without completing an adult application; their names will appear on the district roster for renewal."

You pay your $15/yr registration fee + any insurance fee in your council thru your primary unit. After that there is no charge for other positions you are dual in. I wish we'd get ONE good merit badge counselor information form updated a bit and figure out how to get all the old ones off the internet. I get ones turned in to me that are the early 90's form, and I don't like that it doesn't have email on it, since that is an easy way to verify with the counselor any information. Most merit badge counselors should provide 1 phone number and email address that they want scouts to use to contact them. business phone number is usually not a good contact number for scouts unless it's a cell phone. it should have a place for BSA ID# and date of YPT (or other pertinent training)CLEARLY listing that training certificates must be attached for specialty merit badges (like NRA for rifle shooting, CPR for swimming) would also be helpful. There is sooooo much confusion about registering for merit badge counselors in our area. People will fill out jut the merit badge counselor info form, because they are already registered in a unit in some way so they don't think an application is needed. Or they filled out an application to be a merit badge counselor years ago, so there is no reason anyone would need another application cause they aren't a new mb counselor. Or they fill out a new BSA application to be a merit badge counselor, but since the application doesn't list position code 42 for merit badge counselor, they'll often get confused and put down MC (member committee) or leave it blank. When the council registrar gets the application and it's blank, she sends it back to the DE to find out, and well hopefully he does that but usually not in a timely manner. if it says MC, the registrar says "duh, you are already registered as a member of your unit committee"--or they add them to that position in the unit if there are the 2 required signatures. Units don't know if they must sign MB counselor applications, technically only the district exec has to sign, since it's not a unit position. And they get the word that if they've filled out an application and mb counselor info form one time, they don't have to do it ever again. I'm working my way thru the district mb counselor list of who is registered, adn who has filled out a merit badge counselor info form in recent 2 years. it's about 400 people, and so far about 40 of them are actively working as mb counselors. unfortunately 30 of them weren't registered. And a huge number of them feel put out that they may have to fill out some kind of form and send it to me[District person] or to council, rather than just keeping it all within their unit. ok, I had to vent. probably should have been a new thread, eh?

"Technically CS dens don't have a choice, they are suppose to use the standard flags from national. " Where does it say that in any of the cub scout leader literature? the dens in our pack sometimes choose a mascot from the boy scout patrol patches by their bear year, and make a flag to go with that idea. sort of pre-patrol, pre-webelos, probably not kosher, but they enjoy it. then they make a cool flag to use those last 3 years, make a really good den cheer that is more than "den 1 den 1, we are so much fun!" and they have a blast. it ends up being the emblem they wear on their webelos uniform and gives them more of a den unity right off the bat. when they make a tiger flag, and then change to wolf year, they may quit cause they think they are done with tigers and something new is starting. the continuation of the same den flag seems to help them to see that they are still an expected part of the group and you just get a book full of new ideas to do for the next year of fun.

Now you probably should start by doing a talent survey of your pack parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles to see if anyone is an avid fisherman with a lot of gear who could help you out. We've often his an urban lake or a lake nearby a campout location, done a bit of fishing, with some casting contests, as well as biggest, smallest, one that got away kind of prizes. end with a wildlife conservation clean up project--there always seems to be tangled line along the shore that can be cleared up. kids always love fishing.

Around here we wait til June 11th and go out for free fishing day(no licenses required)and there is usually a couple lakes with fishing gear from the local game and fish dept for people to use. sometimes the game and fish dept provides all the bait and some prizes too. or just check your state game and fish, or fish and wildlife office website and see if they have an intro to fishing class or education center and call em up and see if they can make arrangements for your kids. also you could check with the local Cabelas type store or hunting/fishing gear store and see what they may be able to do for you. and of course the local boy scout troop.

Since we've been in a drought here in Arizona most of the Dammed lakes on the Verde are very low in their fullness. That means if they get a lot of water from rain, they have a lot of room in the lake to store the water. Horshoe is 0% full so the river after it is very very low and bartlett is only 39% full. they have room to hold quie a bit of rain run off. So the flow on the Verde is reasonably stable even with some rain. They'd need a lot more than 1 inch of rain to need to release enough water from. yes, in winter it has at times been pretty dangerous, but we've just not had the rain and snow to make it bad right now. doesn't mean that it might not get bad when the snow pack melts this spring, but the snow levels were pretty darned low up north this winter, even with this storm's late arrival. Of course we might get one more snow before Easter, we've done that a few times. It makes me think that you need to go on a couple outings with the troop as a parent to see whether you can trust these leaders are not. I don't think you do at all, do you?

You really can't easily sew thru the patches because of the thick backing which keeps them from falling apart. Instead use a blanket whipping stitch to go thru the shirt and then up thru the edging stitching on the patch and then down thru the shirt again, so you are only sewing around the edge.

We usually call the Webelos I's up on stage first. We introduce them to the audience as our senior scouts in the pack and thank them for their service and expect them to guide us over the coming year. We usually give them a scout law or oath coin to put in their pockets with some blurb about remembering to live by it thru the coming year. then we put them to work helping us cross over the Bears to join them as Webelos, they put new neckerchiefs on them and give the a webelos book and they feel super helpful and I think that's good enough. we have a pack tradition of trying to pass down hats and neckerchiefs to the next level each year, so the parents don't have to buy new hats and neckers each time. This usually works out to the pack buys 2 or 3 sets of hats and neckers, a few parents buy new sets cause they want to keep the one their son has, and then we have a few hand me downs that get washed before the boys pass them down, which makes the timing a little wonky every time--collect the hats on Weds night's meeting, and then fri night pack meeting we give the hats back right before they go on stage to pass their hat to the next rank and get a new one.

Specialty events ARE the pack meeting for the month. So the derby is a pack meeting with a big game involved, give awards at beginning or when announcing the winners of each den. Blue and gold is certainly a BIG pack meeting with usually lots of awards, but maybe not big on the games. We have spring break in the middle of the month so it doesn't impact the pack meeting that is at the end of the month. if we have a campout, that is our pack meeting and we give awards at the campfire program sat night. In June we go to daycamp as a pack, and then have some kind of get wet and play games pack activity (for the summertime pack award) and we give out day camp awards. often it's at the public pool, or a park with a splash pad or water balloon fights or ice cream social. In July we try to do something indoors as it's very HOT in phoenix in July. so we like to do a museum or the AZ Science Center. It's our pack activity for the summer, and there are usually no awards, but they could be given at the beginning of the day when we first get there or when we meet to eat lunch together. It's an all day thing with incredibly cheap group tickets ($6 per person instead of about $20 for regular admission so we get BIG turn out). In August, our schools start back so we've already had roundup--if we wait too late the kids get involved in fall sports and we don't snag them in time to join scouts. and we've started den meetings for a week or two and have a pack meeting before Labor day. It is often something like a train race(build wooden trains) or a cheap raingutter regatta race to build a heap of excitement for the year with new scouts. so yeah, in one way or the other we have some kind of pack meeting every month, but they are often untraditional, not stand up on stage and give out awards type events.

In the past we've done our calendar in June, early enough that we catch most people before they head out on vacations, usally the 2nd weekend. we usually have MOST of the district calendars and council calendar items, but stuff ALWAYS changes, so we do a calendar review for the next 3 months at almost every leader meeting. We do a mid year calendar review early January and try to get into August. We've tried doing our calendar planning in July, but seems attendance is less than June. We've tried doing our calendar in August, but by then we've already started recruiting and the new parents need/want to know what they are getting themselves into. our year starts in June, as June 1st all scouts in traditional units advance to the next rank in the council database. LDS scouts advance on their birthday which I think would be a nightmare for me personally as a leader, but seems to work for them. Monthly themes have gone away, 12 core values are the new standard. of course I heard they have added in at national a few supplemental theme ideas to satisfy those who liked the themese. I believe the themes should be more on things cub scouts do, so June=summer fun(always gotta have summer wet fun), July=science/exploration, Aug=communication/making friends (that is when we do roundup), Sept= hike/camp skills, Oct= safety, Nov= citizenship, Dec=family/faith/doing for others, Jan=building things(Derby), Feb=cooking (blue and gold), Mar= Sports, April= nature/LNT/World Conservation, May=collections/talent/show off. or something like that. most of the old themse and the 12 core values, the webelos badges and the 12 points of the scout law fit into those kinds of topics with some variation each year to keep it interesting.

While the Eagle badge seems like it shouldn't happen, it most likely is bought "legitimately." As in the Eagle goes into the scout shop with his proof of eagle pocket card, buys a "replacement" eagle patch for his uniform and then sells it to make extra $. It's an interesting income maker. As for restricted 2010 things, My advancement chair who just quit handed over his awards pile. He bought too many 2010 bobcats, 2010 webelos badges and I have about a dozen of the 100 years of scouting patches with ribbons. I can't return them to the scout shop, and it's money I'd love to have available for my cubbies current awards this year. so if someone were to show an interest and scouts honor that their son earned them, I'd be glad to sell them off. Seems thrifty in that instance, don't you think?

nope, they come in weird kid sizes.

I think they started selling them last year. They haven't sold very well. They are NON_UNIFORM wear, and they are now tryin to get rid of a bunch of them for $5.