Look at these requirements then convince me the Webelos program is not lacking

[Its Me]

The two main requirements for Webelos are citizenship and fitness. The requirements below look exactly like school work and the fitnes requirement is all talk. What kid wants to come out of the class room and then spend 85 minutes reseraching and reporting?

 

 

CITIZENSHIP

 

With your parent, guardian, or Webelos den leader, complete the Citizenship Character Connection.

-Know: List some of your rights as a citizen of the United States of America. Tell ways you can show respect for the rights of others.

-Commit: Name some ways a boy your age can be a good citizen. Tell how you plan to be a good citizen and how you plan to influence others to be good citizens.

-Practice: Choose one of the requirements for this activity badge that helps you be a good citizen. Complete the requirement and tell why completing it helped you be a good citizen.

Do All of These:

 

-Know the names of the President and Vice-President of the United States, elected Governor of your state and the head of your local government.

-Describe the flag of the United States and give a short history of it. With another Webelos Scout helping you, show how to hoist and lower the flag, how to hang it horizontally and vertically on a wall, and how to fold it. Tell how to retire a worn or tattered flag properly.

-Explain why you should respect your country's flag. Tell some of the special days we fly it. Tell when to salute the flag and show how to do it.

-Repeat the Pledge of Allegiance from memory. Explain its meaning in your own words.

-Tell how our National Anthem was written.

-Explain the rights and duties of a citizen of the United States. ---Explain what a citizen should do to save our natural resources.

-As a Webelos Scout, earn the Cub Scout Academics belt loop for Citizenship. At a Webelos den meeting, talk about the service project Good Turn that you did.

 

 

 

FITNESS

 

Do This:

 

With your parent, guardian, or Webelos den leader, complete the Health and Fitness Character Connection.

-Know: Tell why it is important to be healthy, clean, and fit.

-Commit: Tell when it is difficult for you to stick with good health habits. Tell where you can go to be with others who encourage you to be healthy, clean, and fit.

-Practice: Practice good health habits while doing the requirements for this activity badge.

And Do Six of These:

 

-With a parent or other adult family member complete a safety notebook, which is discussed in the booklet "How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse " that is in your Webelos handbook.

-Read the meal planning information in this chapter. With a parent or other family member, plan a week of meals. Explain what kinds of meals are best for you and why.

-Keep a record of your daily meals and snacks for a week. Decide whether you have been eating foods that are good for you.

-Tell an adult member of your family about the bad effects smoking or chewing tobacco would have on your body.

-Tell an adult member of your family four reasons why you should not use alcohol and how it could affect you.

-Tell an adult member of your family what drugs could do to your body and how they would affect your ability to think clearly.

-Read the booklet Take A Stand Against Drugs! Discuss it with an adult and show that you understand the material.

 

 

Boring!

 

[Cubmaster Jerry]

I don't know if I'd say "lacking" but you're right. The instruction aspect of scouting can get boring for the boys.

 

I tell everyone of my leaders that the key to a successful program is making those topics fun. Make games out of the memorization stuff, have a den skit to get across things like effects of alcohol, instead of "telling how to retire a flag - do it!

 

It is not necessary to follow the requirements word for word. Just be sure that you realize the intent of the requirement and get that across in a fun way.

[anarchist]

Its Me.

 

85 minutes?

 

Knowledge is not boring...only the teacher or Web leader is boring...

 

each of those topics can be turned into a challenge and a fun activity. But if your attitude is that this stuff is boring...that is what you convey to your kids.

 

One of the things that make a great teacher is the ability to make the 'topic' sound cool, exciting, glamourous, fun, ...("all of the above")... Think about it for a minute...pick your best teacher...(subject is not important)...

 

In almost all cases the "best" teacher has taught the same "stuff" to four or five classes a day, week after week after week... for years! But what makes them great teachers is the ability to excite the students with this "same ol" material...

 

Recently in a poll, 30% of the "population" thought that the three branches of government were the Republicans the Democrats and Independents! It would be in our best interests to make sure these boys understood a little more than that...

 

and if you are planning a Webelos citizenship class for 85 straight minutes ...I pity your boys...These requirements should be done over time... not in one or even two nights!

I have not met a scout yet that didn't want to learn a flag ceremony..and so use it! Hold a flag retirement...lots of flags available....do not just sit on your butts...DO IT, make it real.

 

And the fitness section perhaps, should really be called fitness and Health...with thirty percent of the youth population over-weight (dare I say fat?) what is wrong with identifying good food? -plan a camp menu with only health food. And then, helping kids learn that alcohol, drugs and tobacco can kill you is boring? Trust me, you bring in so color glossy prints of brain, lung, stomach or mouth tissue with tobacco damage (adventist hospitals used to have plenty of hand-outs on the subject... and Webs 'eat it up', school work or not...

 

But in the end, whether it is boring or not is up to the leader...the question really is , is the leader up to it???

 

 

 

 

[Cubmaster-Fred]

Yes the requirements are much like school work, but it is all in your presentation of the requirements. I am currently helping run the Webelos I den and we are aorking on this badge.

 

We have spent 2 meetings on the American Flag. You would be suprised at how much fun the boys had learnign everything there is to learn about the flag.

 

We are going to the County Judges office in 2 weeks and after a tour of the court room he will be discussing what it takes to be a good citizen with the boys.

 

Some of the requirements the boys already know, quiz them as part of a game, and if they pass don't spend anymore time on the requirement.

 

We are not finished yet but so far the boys are having fun, and learnign something new.

 

As for the Fitness badge, well I'll let you know in January when we work on that one.

 

Fred

[SeattlePioneer]

As others have noted, it's all about how you present it.

 

 

Go outdoors and set up a baseball diamond. Play "Citizenship baseball," with Cub Scouts getting hits, balls or strikes in coming up with answers to questions such as naming ways to be a good citizen.

 

 

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[cajuncody]

As for fitness, I am a memeber of the National Fitness Center so I checked with the manager there. He has a couple of personal trainers who are body builders and they have offered to cover the fitness badge. The will use the material presented in the book but have agreed to make it fun and memorable. They will also be giving a tour of the gym and get to see these folks in action with the weights. Also, depending on the gym schedule they may even allow us use of the indoor pool. Sounds like fun to me!

Kristi

[msnowman]

Citizen can be dull as spit if you let me. When Nephew was a Webelos I came up with several Citizenship games for them to play to learn their various things, including "Know your Flag Survivor", "Civic Leader Match Game" and "Duties and Rights Line Up". After a month we ended with Citizenship Jeopardy which was a big hit. Okay, so its not a physically active badge, but it can be jazzed up, made interesting and still meet the requirements.

 

Good luck

Michelle

CM - P102

[Cubmaster Jerry]

Jeopardy is a great game for many memorization requirements. I use it for all of my AOL requirements. I have a big board with about 40-50 questions broken down into related categories. My W2 dens could spend a whole meeting every month or so playing. Learning while having fun!! That's the key!

[madkins007]

It really is too bad that some of the awards throughout the Scouting program are written rather dryly. The instructor can make a difference in presenting the stuff, but it would sure be nice of the material was exciting enough to get the Scouts enthusiastic on its own.

 

I also am not a big fan of any badge or award that can be earned without some form of hands-on element.

 

 

 

All that said, were you one of the den leaders I used to work with, I would point out that it is far more fun to run a great, fun-filled program that 'just happens' to meet several requirements than it is to try to build programs around checking off requirements.

[jens3sons]

Its Me....Remember, Webelos is a time to help the boys transition from Cub Scouting to Boy Scouting. I believe there are 3 citizen merit badges in Boy Scouts (right now I can only think of Citizenship in the Nation and Citizenship in the World, but I believe there is one more...possibly just Citizenship). I believe some of these are require to earn rank(s) in Boy Scouting (although, I am just really starting to learn about Boy Scouting). But again, just to remind you, it is a time for the boys to start getting an idea of what Boy Scouting is all about.

[Its Me]

 

Thanks for the comments. I tried to deliver an upbeat program. I told the story of the national anthem in first person with the lights dimmed and a couple dads making bomb and rocket noises.

 

The above requirements are basically fourth grade lesson plans. I searched the net and almost verbatim the citizen requirement spewed out of Google in the form of fourth grade lesson plans. When I did do Part 1 of the citizen requirement the boys blew me away with how much they already knew. So I spent a couple hours working from a lesson plan to prepare to teach the boys American government when they already had it taught to them by a professional educator.

 

The second item of contention is the requirement is not tactile enough. More hands on for goodness sakes needs to written right into the lesson (requirement). Looking back at the 1954 Lion/Webelos book the citizen part consisted mainly of properly folding a flag. Great! Its hand-on, simple, with no researching, reporting or writing. Read fun!

 

Somehow over the years it appears that the Cub program has morphed into an evening tutoring program. As a Cub leader I would like to think that our evenings spent with the boys are used to fulfill a niche in their maturation process. The above is not a niche but supplemental school work. Read not fun!

 

 

 

 

 

[anarchist]

Its Me,

 

Evening tutoring.??..only if you make it so...

 

school work?...perhaps but the Webelos process is one of maturation...moving from "arts and crafts" to more one detailed...to the more independent work of Boy Scouting.

Citizenship of the Community, of the Nation and of the World are three important (Eagle required Merit badges) they require a certain amout of self motivation and research...the Webelos program is part of this, sort of the foundation...

 

Much of scouting is a "build upon" structure...topics are repeated each rank level to introduce the boys annually to a deeper level of understanding...not knowing what kind of group or facility are present in each den across the country means BSA can only outline the program...We put the meat on the bones...Our Webelos program did lots of weekend activities (sorry I know its more work). My Webs and My older son's WebIIs treked to Washington D.C. to visit the Vietnam Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery as part of our Citizenship program.

 

We had some vets come in to "tell war stories"...far from boring! We did a flag ceremony...then each boy "designed" his own flag ceremony and rehearsed them and then led the Webs in presenting them for the pack at several meetings....

 

The program is different, no doubt, but only the presenter can be blamed if it is dull...As with all things, for an exciting program some leaders are better than others...but in the end it usually boils down to drive and motivation...if we are willing to work to make it exciting...we can do it...if we decide the cause is "lost" because its boring...it probably is (both lost and boring)

 

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF YOU STEP UP.

 

look for something more than lesson plans...if you don't want it to be like school then you make it not like school! Make it more fun...it ain't easy but it ain't as hard as you seem to think!

 

good luck

Anarchist

[Greying Beaver]

Hi, Jens3sons. The Citizenships are World, Nation, and Community. Family Life kinda-sorta belongs in the group.

 

Everybody seems to be heading in the right direction. The requirements give what is asked, not how to go about it. I have said it many times before, "In scouting if you're not having fun and you don't have food, you're doing it wrong." A complex sentence structure with a simple meaning.

[Bob White]

Check out roundtables. A good Cub Roundtable will have examples each month of how to teach cubs in a fun and active way.

 

It's about the skill of the teacher not the topic of the subject.

[Cubmaster-Fred]

The other night at the Webelos meeting the boys made bead flags to be handed out to people they thought were good citizens. While the boys were putting them together we talked about the flag, its history, how to display it, how to respect it, when to fly it, etc....

 

When we finished we practiced folding the flags and then as our game/activity for the night they split into 2 teams and were asked questions about the flag and other citizenship questions. Correct answers helped you move closer to the finish line, you get the picture. The boys got almost every question correct, I could not believe how much they retained. The best part was they had fun and said they could not wait until the next meeting to try the game again. Of course there was the obligatory " we are gonna beat you next time".

 

With a little bit of thought and time, you can make anything fun!

 

Fred

 

They also cannot wait until they get to tour the court house.