Chisos

DeSoto State Park in Alabama is about an hour south of Chattanooga on I-59...that might be an idea.

Yes, they can if they're a 5th grader.

@ShutterbugMom: What are the new scout's goals? How old is he? If he'll already be 11 or will be by February when the rest of the Den crosses over, just let him cross over too, AoL or not. But you've got to figure out if getting that award is important to him or not. Otherwise, if he wants his AoL, he's got to use the new requirements. But, that could be doable by February, especially if he did some of the Adventures on his own. As for him doing stuff with "Webelos I"...there's not really a rule on "Webelos I" vs. "Webelos II". As a 5th grader he can earn the Webelos badge if he wants. Or, work only on AoL.

Did a little digging around, on the BSA Program Updates page there is a FAQ for the new Cub Scout program. It's addressed (sort of) on Page 11 of the FAQ. It says you can work on AOL required pins before finishing the Webelos Award; so I'd assume the same would be true for electives. It does explicity disallow "double dipping"--you can't use the same elective for both Webelos and AOL. Webelos is still a more than one year program (16-20 months) beginning at the start of 4th grade. So, Webelos scouts can start working and getting credit for both Webelos Award and AOL stuff once they join a Webelos den.

That's how I read it. Use what is needed to get the Webelos badge, then extras can go to AOL. I think the only "restriction" would be to not to use the AOL required pins as Webelos electives because they'll be used later for the AOL award.

Maybe others will correct me, but I have not seen anything that states you can't work on the AoL required pins before finishing the Webelos badge. So I would say sure, they can earn the Camper pin, but I don't think you can count it as one of the "electives" for the Webelos badge. But they will then have it already done for next year.

I think we're planning to do a mix. A lot of the material is the same, just organized different. Some boys have a lot of the old pins from last year, so it is easier to just have them finish out with the old program...others did not finish many, so they may use the new program, especially those that went to Day Camp and already have a few of the new Adventures completed. It'll be a bit of book-keeping, for sure.

In the new Webelos/AoL program, can 5th graders working on their Arrow of Light go back and earn the "required" pins from Webelos? For example, the Webelos Walkabout, First Responder, etc.? I don't think such a scout could go back and get the Webelos Award, but could they count the pins associated with it as electives for AoL (assuming of course they were *not* being used toward the Webelos Award)? This question came to me as I was looking at the transition from the old program to the new one, but I could see it being asked if a boy were to start Cub Scouts in 5th grade in the new program. For this year the big issue I see is with first aid--in the old program, first aid was covered in Readyman, which was one of the AoL required pins. Now, it's in First Responder, for Webelos. So, in effect the boys may "miss" that (of course we can just always cover the material anyway). The same thing is reverse is seen with Citizenship stuff--it was required as the Citizen pin for Webelos, but is now in the Build a Better World pin for AoL. So the boys see it twice.

I think that's right, you still have to register to access the online course. But you don't have to have a member number, you just have to create an account on my.scouting.org. Seriously though, all that takes is a name, email, and password...shouldn't be *that* big of a deal. If they later register with BSA they can go back in an add their member number and in theory it will link to scoutnet. Or something like that.

No, the boys will get a belt loop for each adventure they complete. Tiger/Wolf/Bear have 6 required and one elective Adventure, when they complete those 7, they get their rank badge. They can earn other belt loops as elective. Webelos will continue to earn pins, similar to before, but they are also now called Adventures. Complete 5 required and 2 elective pins for the Webelos badge, and 4 required pins and 3 elective ones for the Arrow of Light.

Odd, I just got an email reminding me that my YPT in expiring in a couple of months. It ws from National via some automated process...I don't recall if I opted-in to something for reminders, or not. Perhaps if your name/email/ID number don't properly match up you don't get a reminder? This was for *me* though. I've never gotten a report for other leaders (I'm the pack CC).

We are going to try something like this for this year. There will be a formal Den Leader, but we will have different other adults instruct the various adventure pins.

Yes it was, at least until the late 80's or early 90's when they redid the requirements to eliminate skill awards.

My son did both (Day and Resident) camp this year; he's a rising Webelos II Arrow of Light den scout. I do think he got more out of the Resident camp experience, though the did different things at the two for the most part. Not sure if I'd eliminate Day Camp though. For many families it may be the only option, especially since the younger boys need to have a parent along to camp. Mom and/or dad may not be able to take off work for Resident camp.

That's kind of how we run it. (I'm a CC). Our running joke is CM = operations, CC = management. Without operations, management is pointless. Without management, operations can go haywire. So, we have defined roles, and while on some org chart somewhere one may "report" to the other, we try to run things by consenus and with an eye as to what is best for the boys and the Pack.

I know this thread has been mainly about the Boy Scout side of things, but I'll throw out our experience on the Cub Scout side...Our pack has used Scoutbook for the past year. My impressions would be: 1. The advancement tracking works well. We've liked how it works across multiple platforms (PC, Android/ iOS as a mobile web app, etc.) 2. Scheduling/calendar tools work fine. Easy iCal import into most calendar programs. 3. Email tool works fine, but you just have to hope the parents bother to check/read their email...had some initial issues with emails from SB going to spam. 4. The RSVP feature doesn't work as we need it to--on the cub scout side, for a campout for example, need to know not just who's coming but also how many family members (since CS campout are family campouts). I did find it interesting that BSA went with Scoutbook, since it's so new compared to Troop/PackMaster and some others...but I do think the visual interface will work well for most users. In general it's worked for us and we'll continue to use it. It's got some bug and quirks, but I also think it's got some potential.

We've charged $50/yr, just enough cover recharter, PWD cars, Space Derby rockets, and (most) awards. Big events like campouts, B&G, etc. are "pay as you go" and we budget/charge for them to more or less break even. We haven't done popcorn in several years, but have done some other small fundraisers for general Pack expenses. I'm wondering, though, if our low up-front cost and pay as you go model is reducing participation, especially later in the year.

Here is my go to website for skits: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/skit/show-skits-all.asp There are a few short ones in there that Tigers could do.

That's correct, current Webelos I can continue with the same progam next year. Current Bears will use the new Webelos requirements next year. I found a "Bryan on Scouting" that seems to indicate that Webelos will still get pins, and will still use the tri-colors. But this was from last May, so I'd also wait until the final word comes out before buying anything new. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/05/21/looping-you-in-on-the-cub-scout-2015-updates/

Your thinking is correct. However, I do think they can wear pins on the hat if they want to.

Ken, trumpet to bugle should not be a problem; the tones on a bugle are the same as on a trumpet with all the valves closed (i.e., no keys pressed). If you can easily hit the G above at the top of a treble clef with a trumpet, then playing a bugle won't be a problem. It would take a new trumpet player some time and practice to build up that much range and control.

We would always meet at the location. As to a "heads up" it would depend on the place...if you're going to be asking someone to give you a tour or something, then for sure let them know you are coming. If you are going to a museum you could probably just show up, but for the TV station or newspaper tour you'd definitely need a reservation. I'm sure a "walk-around" of a historic courthouse would be fine. Maybe you or one of the other den parents know of some "old-timers" in the community that could meet up with you and tell a few stories as to why the place is historic.

We have provided belt loops when they were earned at a den/pack activity, but if a boy earns one on his own, we just have the parents pick it up for him at the scout shop.

Well, the one I got at our local scout shop just says "Pack Committee Chair"