clydesdale115

Annie - I have compiled a Cub Scout songbook that I presented at University of Scouting - includes 70+ songs, along with cheers and graces. If you are interested, I'd be happy to mail you a copy if you'll PM me your address. clyde

We saw similar results at the Cub level when talking about district events. Some argued that smaller packs couldn't afford (or staff) enough fun events on their own and they counted on the district to provide activities. They miss the point that Cub Scouting happens in the den (and at the Boy Scout level, in the patrol). Our district has gone to 1 Cuboree (fall) per year - dropped the spring one, but it wasn't necessarily for poor showing - just hard to get leaders for so many district activities. Also some complained that with so many district events, the packs weren't able to do "pack" things. I would welcome joining up with another district for a Cuboree - maybe trade off which district "hosts" it each year. At the BS level, we've also dropped to one Camporee (winter) due to poor attendance. It has steadily declined over the past few years. The last spring one was attended only by 3 troops - they changed the weekend on very short notice so even some who wanted to come couldn't. But what could we expect? We haven't had Boy Scout summer camp here in 2 years. *sigh* I hope that in the absence of district events, the troops are having great boy-led activities of their own. clyde

We live in a military town - lots of folks with flags on their uniforms around here :-) Maybe the way we (BSA) wear our uniform flag is in an effort to avoid that "para-military" claim. clyde

Our Radio guy is active duty also but he's in-between deployments right now, so JOTA is coming at a great time for him to help us. He's a big ham operator and has several buddies who are coming out to set up at the COR for the day. We did JOTI a couple of years back - our Scouts (Cubs at the time) had a lot of fun with that. Probably was a bit more "relatable" for them, using a computer instead of a ham radio. They worked on Computer BL along with chats over the internet. clyde

I love day hiking with Cubs! Singing every hiking cadence we can think of, and making up some along the way! A friend's Pack recently started a Hiking Program. Besides campouts, they schedule a small 1 to 3+ mile hike each month. Patches are awarded at 10 miles, 20 miles, etc. Not sure about having a campfire along the way. That'll be a big time consumer - building the fire, making s'mores, putting the fire cold out before you leave. Maybe you could have all the fixin's for your trail mix at that campsite (can someone go ahead and set it up?) and let the boys make their trail mix at that point. Then head back to the cars. Some hikes we have done: ABC Hike, Silent Hike (this is great for nighttime), Color Hike, Hula-Hoop hike (lay your hoop on the ground, what can you find in the circle?), Inch-High Hike (take rulers along). Could you do some basic Orienteering along the way? Compass use, looking at trail maps, that sort of thing. Our trail mix recipe is similar to ManyHats. We just leave out the peanuts, just in case. Also include mini-marshmallows and Goldfish. clyde

Do you have a Den Chief? It might be good to hook up with a troop and see if you can get a Boy Scout to come down as your DC. They usually have good ideas for games and such, and it would add an extra warm body to your team :-) Check out the Cub Program Helps - current and old ones. We didn't usually follow the monthly theme as Webs but there are plenty of game ideas in there you could probably fit into your Activity Badges. My general plan was one high energy/one low energy activity or one indoor/one outdoor activity each meeting. Sometimes just changing things up can provide the interest you need. Instead of trying to come up with a "sport" activity, perhaps just hold your entire den meeting outside. Or have the boys set-up a tent in the room and hold your meeting sitting inside the tent. Maybe you could have your den meeting at one of the Scout's home and include backyard play time - they'll make up their own fun! Or how about this: Include den time for your boys to visit a younger den (Tigers? Wolves?) and let your den teach them a game. A Tiger or Wolf DL would probably jump at the chance to have a group of Webelos come lead an activity! clyde

Anyone out there participating in JOTI / JOTA this year? Our troop will be using ham radios - reaching out to Scouts all over the country and maybe the world! Many will work on their Radio MB as well. clyde

At our summer camp, a program area director signed the blue cards, but in many cases, a much younger Scout actually led the classes (Indian Lore, Safety, Nature, etc). I thought our boys were short-changed in some of them because of the young, less-experienced class leaders (a Scout only slightly older than the attendees). It was a lot of reading from the book.

Son came home from summer camp with a partial MB. A Scouting acquaintance is counselor for that MB so I did email him just to see if he'd prefer my son to call him or email him about making meeting arrangements. My son doesn't know the man, so it'll be a good experience. We have encouraged him to reach beyond the troop to other MB options. Up to now, most MBs he has were done in-Troop and I agree that it is hugely inefficient and not ideal. After summer camp, the SM in our troop encouraged the adults to get registered as counselors for several MBs the boys had partials for. Huh? That being said, I am MB counselor for 4 non-Eagle MBs and have never been contacted (I put that I was available to all of council, not just our troop). Oh well. clyde

Webelos - no doubts. Tiger was fun enough but a challenging year for new leaders, new parents, new boys, all learning together. Some of the Wolf and Bear requirements are a little too much like school to me. Webelos is perfect - the required badges are engaging, and the other options are varied enough that there is something for everyone. It's fun to see the Webs become the big boys of the Pack. Guest badge counselors add variety. Den camping is great! Parents are working on stepping back. Introducing the idea of a patrol method while still being a den is exciting. Arrow of Light is in sight - and crossover is a milestone. I'd be a Webelos leader again in a heartbeat! clyde

I just went this week and bought another pair of the "old" switchback pants - simply because I like the ankle zipper. Our Scout Store does have the new pants already (in limited supply), but they are selling off their old ones starting with 20% off. clyde

I used Acorn Awards - they were very good to work with, arrows came really quickly, and they were safely packaged for shipping. I have recommended them to others who have had similar positive experiences. Seems like we paid about $30 each for our den boys, although they do have some less expensive options. www.acornawards.com clyde

Our course was similar in its "diversity" interpretation. Anything that was outside your usual group of folks seemed to be okay for the diversity requirement. For example, something that combined your den with another den or your troop with another troop, your pack visiting the elderly, Scouts reaching out to non-Scouts, etc. clyde

I do read my Scouting magazine each month - in fact, we get 2 each month, one for me, one for hubby - I've tried to get one stopped, but alas... I enjoy magazines in general and I like this one. I keep them, just like my son keeps all of his Boys' Life mags. But in truth, I don't ever refer back to them for anything - I just keep them :-) I "probably" would read it if it was offered online, but I'd need an email reminder to check out the latest issues. I doubt I would be sitting at my computer each month waiting anxiously for the next issue. And I definitely would not pay to keep getting it in print form. clyde

Our Pack always displayed the den doodles at the pack meeting, so generally they were large stand-up things. One year I built a cool one that was a round board that turned on top of a stand (probably 4-1/2 to 5' tall). Each boy had a section along the circle to hang their beads and other dangles. It was too bulky to transport each week though - we left it at the church between meetings. Another year I used a thick dowel (like a broom handle thickness) as an arrow shaft. Added wooden arrow point and fletching - probably 4' long - mounted it in the center to a stand, each boy had a cup holder attached for hanging bead and dangles. At the end of the year, we took it off the stand and removed the cup holders and just had a cool giant arrow for the den. I've seen giant plywood diamonds painted like the rank badges, mounted on stand - but all these are much too cumbersome to transport every week. Besides, too much handling will cause your dangles to get all tangled up (or worse, fall off). There are some in the Cub Scout How-To book - one is in a big coffee can. You could use a tree branch painted blue and yellow, secure into the coffee can with plaster of paris, hang dangles from the branches. That would be much less bulky. Maybe you could use something like a portable cork board to hang things from. Or is there a way to hang the dangles from a 'biner? Give each boy his own carabiner with a thin rope attached. He wears it hanging from the back of his hat. Each week, add more and more beads - by the end of the year, he'll have his own keepsake. We did something similar when we made Ranger pacer beads - each boy had his own strand. clyde

OGE: I can quote nearly every line from that movie! Gotta love it when he says "leff" handed! gcan: We had a summer camp with this theme - catapults were a big hit, here are some more ideas: Marbles - glass art was popular in Medieval times - we tied it in to the glass marbles "Stained glass" - votive cups with tissue paper glued around the outside to look like stained glass - these turned out really nice and inexpensive We did the cardboard shields from Oriental Trading Wrote letters of support to soldiers (called them modern-day knights!) - sent them through Operation Gratitude Royal Red Rover - each Scout wears a sign with a renaissance title on it (Blue Knight, Court Jester, Cleric, etc) - other side says, "Royal Red Rover, send the Green Knight right over" Wizard's Chess - draw a giant chess grid with sidewalk chalk, boys wear signs for different pieces, eliminated players or leaders "move the pieces" as for a real game - great way for everyone to play the game together Made and used the jousting teeter-boards from the Cub Scout How-To book Lots of nature exploring (linked it to a knight needing to know all about the world around him). Made shield neckerchief slides - leather scraps I cut out ahead of time with a bandsaw into small shields, boys decorated with Sharpies, hot-glued PVC ring on the back - looked great! Made tunics Magic tricks (link to "wizards") Horseshoes Make sand castles! The Gauntlet - boys all have water guns, stand in 2 lines facing each other - leader walks (QUICKLY!) between the 2 lines holding a lit candle, boys try to squirt out the candle with their water guns! Fun game called Giants, Wizards, and Elves - it's like "Rock, Paper, Scissors" on a large scale - Google for instructions PM me if I can help further - clyde

I knew basically what to expect - husband had attended WB a couple of years earlier in a neighboring Council. I knew what the Ticket was all about but I had not thought about it for myself (in other words, what "I" was going to do). I was an experienced camper - others were not so much! We had a couple of very new Scouters with little camping time under their belts - I think they were a little overwhelmed at that part of it, although they (like ALL of us!) learned quickly from our peers. A comparison afterwards of my experience and my husband's showed some differences but the overall program was the same. In other words, talking with someone who had been-there-done-that was a big help in me being prepared for my 2 "mountaintop" weekends. I went into it with high expectations and I was not disappointed! clyde

There's the nicest info booklet here: http://www.girlscoutstotem.org/Young_Adults/GACelebrationPacket.pdf It has some really neat ideas for a Gold ceremony - maybe you can find something helpful! clyde

You might consider saving the Closing until "after" the flag retirement (if you are burning) - then save the ceremonial ashes for a future campfire - the ashes may take on an even more special meaning. Do you have any Bears crossing up to Webelos? I'll bet the Webelos parents would gladly provide a sheet cake or cupcakes to share with the Pack to help celebrate their sons' crossover. Before you get into the more ceremonial part of the program (Webelos), find a good time to do fun leader thank-you's. I think they are genuinely appreciated when sincerely given :-) As an aside, this is always an exciting and busy pack meeting, so you might assign someone to be on the lookout to greet the OA team and also the Scoutmaster and Boy Scouts of the troop your Webelos are crossing into. You will likely have a full house so these guests might not know where to go, etc. Enjoy the fun! clyde

Just found out yesterday that our day camp has been scrapped. They also cancelled Twilight Camp. Day Camp was cx because of not having a venue (not sure why Twi-Camp was cx). No one wanted an "outdoors" camp - we've always had it at a school and then bused the girls to a reserved swimming pool during the day. School board is not cooperating this year apparently. Churches are already booked with summer plans. Sad thing is that the near-by outdoor GS Camp had already closed out summer registration for those who wanted to get in up there. They did agree to re-open registration for one more week, only for those girls who came to our day camp last year. We all have other busy summer plans already, but I'm sad to see this one scratched off my to-do list :-( clyde

My son's patch came this week also. It was indeed a participation patch for having submitted a logo idea for the contest. clyde

I always thought Sunday afternoon meetings would be ideal but it just didn't take off in our Pack. In fact, our CO was a Methodist church that didn't hold Sunday evening services so we could easily have used the building without conflict. Karen's point was a good one: we have several who will come to a pack meeting and sneak out just after they get their awards to head to baseball, but I seriously doubt the coach would let them leave a game early to come to a pack meeting. More often than not, sports would beat out Scouts. It goes back to a quality program, though. We have to make them "want" to choose Scouts over sports when there is a conflict. I do think they can do both, especially now when most of the boys have made rank and are just working on electives and such. But our pack meetings need to be bang-up to get them there. Pirates and snakes - now that's my kind of pack meeting - what more could a boy want?! What's that song? "I don't like pirates and snakes, and that ain't what it takes to ... " Oh well, it's something like that! :-) clyde

The Wagon Wheel Council has an etiquette patch program - seems like it has 8 or 10 requirements - patch costs about $2.00. Their site: www.girlscouts-wwc.org Just type in "etiquette" in their search box and it'll take you to the patch requirements. Hope this helps, clyde

Week 1 = Cub Day Camp Week 2 = Girl Scout Day Camp Week 3 = Boy Scout Summer Camp Week 4 = fall into a deep, deep sleep that lasts through July! We're saving our family vacation until school fall break in October. clyde

I think seeing the staff describe their own totems was most helpful thing for us as well. Interesting to see how many ways you can draw a beaver :-) And I love your idea of a "Who Am I" game - that would be a neat thing to include in the Gazette one morning. We were given a few must-haves to include on our totem (course #, something for each patrol member, be easy to recreate, etc.) but even with only limited directions, the totems were all creative, unique, representative, and memorable! clyde Proud Bobwhite!