troop calendars

[merritt]

Would any troops be willing to share their

troop yearly calendar with me? What & how do

you handle small troops (5 boys)who are active

in sports and other outside activities? We

never know the schedules until the beginning

of the season (i.e. basketball, baseball, football) and then if it falls a game or practice falls on a troop meeting night or campout well it hurts the troop because we are

so small? Does every troop follow the once a week meeting plus once a month campout (fri - Sun) plus fundraisers as needed rule?

[Bob White]

Hi merritt,

 

Our actual calendar would be a little too extensive to print here, but I can share with you how it is developed.

 

We plan long range from August to August. June and July are our primary planning months. We use The local school district calendars, the council/district scout calendar and the major holiday calendar to plan within and around. we also use the SM personal calendar. We use a flipchart page and the BSA wall planning calendar to rough everything out.

 

The first step is for the patrol Leaders to find out what their patrols want to do and where they want to go. Then at a PLC meeting a master list is made. The PLC selects monthly themes for the year using the list of National Program themes and the themes available in the 3 Troop Program Planning notebooks. Then we go month by month plugging in activities to enhance the themes, determining meeting nights. (We meet 90 minutes every Monday year round, unless it is a holiday or if severe weather dictates we cancel.

 

The SPL and Scoutmaster then clean up the rough into a final proposal that the PLC reviews for acceptance. We do not worry about other youth activity schedules, and we are pretty sure they don't worry about ours. The boys choose what they want to do when they want to do it.

 

Do we always have 100% attendance? No, but thats OK the boys know when swim season is over they will be welcomed back. The same with Drama Club, Band, Choir, and other sports and activities.We routinely have 75% or more of our scouts at a given meeting or activity.

 

After the PLC settles on the annual plan it goes to the troop Committee for review. Any suggestions they have go back to the PLC for consideration. Back to the Committee then as the final calendar and the troop Secretary publishes it for the parents.

 

On occasion we have an entire grade level gone for a school event. we still hold the activity with the boys who come. Life is about choices, sometimes the choice is scouts somtimes it's not, but they always come back.

 

The next step is ongoing as the PLC takes the long range plan and turns it into short range planning at the monthly PLC meeting. Believe me it doesn't always go as smoothly as it sounds, alot of these boys have never had the opportunity outside of scouting to plan a program on this scale. But that's where the learning and the growth happens.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best of Luck

Bob

[OldGreyEagle]

Our troop started off rather small, our CC rememebrs the days when the troop had 5-8 scouts in it. Today we are bumping up against 90. The key was once an event was planned, it was done, even if it was one scout with 2 adults, or even a scout and his father if the father was a registered scouter. They took lots of photos to show the other boys what they did on the trip. It was the consistentcy of the schedule that brought boys on the trips, they knew it would happen. And they scheduled a campout a month and some other activity, a hike or something. Once word spread they were an active troop which didnt cancel for anything, (well a lightning storm once but that was safety related, scouts started showing up and they got new cross-overs from Cub packs and transfers from troops that werent very active.

The Active troop generated intereest in active scouts who had active parents who joined as leaders and today we have 41 adults on charter, 23 of which are trained.

 

Have the boys draw up a schedule of activites, keeping in mind band, sports, etc dates, but dont not schedule something unless you know no body will be availible. Even if you have one scout, its something. Take lots of phots to share the trip withthose who coulnt make it. Let them see what they missed, perhaps they will want to be on the next one and miss anything. Once you build the momentum, you will then have the happy task of slowing it down.(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[eisely]

It is not necessary to have a troop meeting every week. In fact the more successful troops that I have observed do not have full troop meetings every week. This gives the patrols opportunities to meet as patrols.

 

I think the standard process is pretty much as Bob White described, although his process is considerably more involved. Your annual planning meeting, or meetings, should be in May or June. You need the school calendars, that should be available by then, and the district and council calendars. We also avoid scheduling events on the following dates: Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Mother's Day, and Super Bowl Sunday. You need to have these dates in hand before you go into your planning meeting. We cannot accommodate sports leagues' calendars since these are not known. Sports participation does affect turnout at events, but so be it.

[Chippewa29]

The good part about being smaller is that you have more flexibility. Half of our troop (five Scouts), including all of our troop position holders, is involved in a music festival this weekend, when we were supposed to have a campout. When we realized what we were up against, we changed from a campout to a day hike. We have five kids going, all younger Scouts (including three brand new). They'll have a good time and get an outdoor experience.

 

When it comes to conflicts with other activities, we tend to major in it. We go up against soccer, hockey, baseball, music, Cathecism (sorry if I spelled it wrong), church groups, etc. I am always a nice guy about it (many of the sports coaches aren't), so I tend to develop loyalty from the Scouts and their parents because I am supportive of their other activities. If a kid has a hockey game on Saturday morning and we have a campout, then he usually comes about noon or so and stays Saturday night. When they have multiple conflicts, I just ask that they make equal sacrifices. For example, if there are six conflicts with hockey and troop activities during the season, I ask that they sacrifice hockey three times and the troop activity three times (it usually ends up being 1-5 or 2-4, but the tide is turning in our favor).

 

Another thing that helps is the advancement. Scouts that are at most of the meetings with us advance quicker than the ones that are "part-timers". When the part-timers see their buddies getting a new rank and they aren't they do one of two things: they get discouraged or they get motivated. If done properly, you can turn it into a win-win situation. We had a Scout that was a part-timer and wasn't happy when he wasn't advancing (his buddies were). He started to split his time better, sacrificing a couple of hockey practices to be at Scout meetings. I didn't tell him to do that. I only told him that the reason why his buddies were advancing was not because they were better than him, but because they were there more and had put more work into it. If he wanted the same rewards, he needed to put in the same work. If hockey was a higher priority for him, no problem, we'd love to have you join us whenever you can.

[sctmom]

I found out last year that when you register your kid for sports, you can write a note on the registration form saying "Cannot practice on Mondays." This may not be possible if he wants to be on a specific team, but if he's going to a new team, they may take that into consideration when assigning him. Doesn't always works, but helps. This year my son may have baseball games on the night of troop meetings. I agree with Chippewa about splitting time equally. My son did miss a Cub Scout event a few months ago because his basketball team only had 7 players, we discussed it and he realized the team needed him more that day. Also, he had been to the place the pack was going.

 

I've told him we will look at each conflict as it occurs this spring between baseball and scouts. The troop has the same attitude Chippewa does -- you are welcome whenever you choose to come. It is easier for them to say this because they have about 30 boys right now.

 

[Bob Russell]

When we do our annual planning, it is often not possible to pick specific dates for activities. For example, we attend two of our council's winter lodges on Mt. Hood every winter. To be eligible, we have to participate in the September wood cut for each lodge, and at each wood cut the participating troops participate in a lottery to pick their date. We therefore cannot plan the dates of these activities prior to the woodcut. We prepare the January through March calender by making decisions that in this three-month period we will hold several events, dates to be determined following the woodcut. We will also adjust the calender based upon snow levels - last year we had to reschedule our snow cave weekend from January, when there should have been sufficient snow, to later in the winter, because the snow levels on Mt. Rainier were not sufficient until late winter. In fact, the weekend we went was the first with sufficient snow, and I think that every scout troop that did snow caving was there - they all had to adjust their schedules. Summer scheduling also needs flexibility as families often do not have their vacations scheduled through employers until late in the year. Obviously summer camp is scheduled well in advance, but weekend activities such as our weekend whitewater trip is scheduled after vacations are known. This method will not work well for large troops such as OGE has, but I think works well with smaller troops. However, if a troop tries to be too flexible, adjusting up to the last minute, the program will almost certainly fail, because you are sending a signal that scouting is to be a second choice. We have done this at times, and as I look back on it I regret allowing too much rescheduling. For smaller troops, I think the best approach is to plan for the year, then adjust in 4 or 6 month blocks as schedules become known.

 

A comment for those who hate the lack of a working edit function. I try to be careful with my posts, as they remain for all to see. I write mine on my word processing program, edit and spell check there, and then copy to the Scouter site. It takes a bit longer, but I hope I embarrass myself less.

[evmori]

merritt,

My Troop calendar is located on our web site at

http://www.bsa.net/pa/t1

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

[merritt]

Thanks for some replys - obviously I am a new

boy scout - my son just entered the troop. He

just completed and graduated from Webelos II. I

have been an active den leader for the last 5 years with him and an active committee member.

I have been the number of Webelos that did not

move on - I also have been in very close contact

with our troop during these years and want to

see this troop continue for my son and thrive.However, they have this policy to go on a campout you must attend two weekly meetings prior to the campout? If you are active in any other activity it doesn't also work? Is this a good policy? We have had many boys quit the troop because they feel it is too strict and is asking them to make choices too early in life!

 

and to the reply that it is not necessary to have a weekly meeting - if you don't have a weekly troop meeting do the patrols then meet? We only have 5 boys (my son who is a graduated Webelos 2 just last month) and four 6th graders who have advanced in rank. So my son is entering their patrol and has to play catch up. Therefore I quess our weekly troop meeting then becomes a patrol meeting?!

[Bob White]

Hi again Merritt,

 

A lot of the troops in our area use the 2 meeting rule. personally I have no problem with it IF the scouts in the Patrol Leaders Council made the rule and not an adult. My prefered method is to help the boys build such a fun program that the scouts wouldn' want to do something else. A good program is a far better motivator than rules and punishments.

 

I've been in troops that met weekly and others that met every other week with Patrol meetings in between, and still others that met for 3 weeks followed by a Patrol Leaders Coucil Meeting on the 4th week.

 

Each system had its own strengths and weaknesses. And each for the most part worked just fine. you just need to find out what works for your group. Remember your not married to ant one practice once you choose. As time passes and members change you may find you have to shift your thinking on this.

 

Merritt asre you saying there are 5 in his Patreol or 5 in the entire Troop?

[dan]

Our troop has a meeting every month, but the meeting after the campout is the SPL meeting.

I do not agree that a scout should have to attend 2 meeting before a campout to attend the campout, many scouts have many other things going on band, ballet, dance, music lessons, etc.

But our troop has an unused policy that the scout must be at the meeting before the campout to help with campout prep.

 

Calendar is here. http://www.t46.ontheweb.com/

 

[merritt]

5 in the entire troop (sad but true)

[Bob White]

Bob here again merritt,

 

Sorry to here about the 5 members. Is it a fairly new troop or has there been a steady decline. I'm not trying to be nosey, just hoping we can help you in some way to isolate the problem and find a solution.

Bob

[slontwovvy]

Alright, here's a brief attempt.

 

Meetings every month: a PLC the first Tuesday, then meetings all of the other Tuesdays. On the first and third Tuesdays, there is a high adventure meeting for thirty minutes before the regular meeting.

 

January=ski trip or caving

February=in-cabin winter camp

March=trip to a major city

April=outdoor camping and preparation for summer camp

May=more outdoor camping

June=more outdoor camping

July=summer camp

August=high adventure canoe trip

September=bike trip and international camporee

October=outdoor camping

November=in-cabin camp

December=winter camp in Arctic tents

 

That's the basics. We sell wreaths in October and Easter lilies near Easter.

[Mike Long]

Don't let having only 5 members stop you. If anything it gives greater flexibility in changing your plans to get the most of your guys out and create a more personal program.

 

Ours in a nutshell:

January-

1. Backpacking (usually Cumberland Island Nat. Seashore)

2. OA Winter fellowship

February-

1. Backpacking Osceola Nat. Forest during the Civil war festival. Backpack 20 miles and watch a Civil War battle.

2. Scout Sunday at our sponsor church

March My busy month

1. New Scout Campout, work on Scout Skills

2. OA Spring Fellowship

3. Spring Break High adventure Backpacking (week long)

4. Church clean up service project

April

1. District Camporee

2. Court of honor

May

1. Canoe training camping trip

2. Service Project

June

1. OA Summer Fellowship

2. Summer high Adventure Canoe trip (week long)

3. Troop canoe trip

July

1. Summer camp

2. High and low ropes course

August

1. End of summer court of honor/cookout

2. Troop campout

September

1. Troop campout biking

October

1. Fall Camporee

2. OA Fall Fellowship

November

1. Backpacking trip

December

1. Troop campout/Service Project

2. Court of honor/Christmas party

 

There are many more things we do that aren't listed and the actual breakdown changes from year to year.(This message has been edited by Mike Long)