"New" Themed Pack meeting plans

[infoscouter]

I guess I should have seen this coming. The National Council has started posting alternate pack meeting plans which correspond to the core values, so packs are not repeating the same meeting year after year.

 

"The planswhich contain several pages of program suggestions, stories, puzzles, and more, compiled into a downloadable PDF fileare being rolled out between now and next May. The first three, centered around the values of cooperation, responsibility, and citizenship, are already online at the Pack Meeting Plans site on scouting.org/cubscouts."

 

http://scout-wire.org/2011/11/22/new-online-theme-based-pack-meeting-plans/

 

 

[AnnLaurelB]

(*crrriccck, crrriccck, crrriccck*)(that's the can of worms, opening)

 

Okay, I'll bite. What don't you like about it?

[momof2cubs]

AnnLaurel: as dry as the den meeting plans are that they published last year, I fully expect the same with pack meetings.

 

Reading over the den meeting plans, they seem so obsessed with rank advancement, that they have forgotten that it's supposed to be fun too. It is really not difficult to make an achievement fun (except during the wolf year..my how dry are all those achievements!), but this people manage to make it all about ticking off requirements.

[AnnLaurelB]

I see what you mean, yes.

 

I guess this is where I feel blessed to have worked with kids and curriculum for all those years when my daughter was small. I spent 7 years prepping curriculum for church preschoolers, and some of the stuff THEY gave me was like, "Are you kidding me?!?"

 

"Take a large potato and dress it as Joseph." (*blink. blink.*)

 

I'm sorry. WHAT? No, no, no. We will not be dressing potatoes, thank you very much.

 

So then I'd have to figure out something else as an object lesson. With the advent of the internet, there's NO reason that someone can't find resources to make things fun!

 

That in mind, I've never looked at the BSA stuff and accepted their "potato" suggestions. I glance at it, and go, "Oh. Citizenship. Mmmmkay, here's what we'll do."

 

Yeah, I agree-- there's NO way you can just follow the published outline. They'd all vaporize and turn to dust!!

 

Edit to add: The problem is that people like my oh-please-Lord-let-her-be-sent-away-soon CC see the Pack Meeting Outline, and want to call me on the carpet and say I'm not "following curriculum". Heck NO! Did they LEARN about what Citizenship means? Then mission accomplished. Go'way. ;0)(This message has been edited by annlaurelb)

[Eagle92]

That's one disadvantage with the new program: they do not relate how to make the things fun.

 

I use the current den meeting plans as the foundation to my plan. But I've used my own expereinces, common sense, other folks expereinces, and other resources to make the meetings fun.

 

I'll give a few examples.

 

I had a bike cop do the bicycle meeting. I had a wood carver do the Whittling Chip class. I had one dad with experiecne with carpentry do another. I had someone with expereince doing story telling do the Folk tales meeting. The key is using your resources.

 

Also I have a collection of older books that I use for ideas too. Why reinvent the wheel, when you can adapt somethign to your needs?

 

Good luck.

[AnnLaurelB]

Have I mentioned that the scary-lady CC tried to have me "disciplined" for not doing the Pack Meeting Plans *exactly* as published.

 

TELL ME, ~please~, WHERE it says that Pack Meetings MUST follow that {outline} they give out. I mean, sure, there are ideas in there. But the CC "wrote me up" and tried to "counsel" me about not presenting *precisely* what the Pack Meeting Plans said.

 

Um ... no. As long as we cover Honesty, or Perseverance, or Whatever, and the Awards are given out in a meaningful way, and the BOYS HAVE FUN, ~THAT~ is a successful Pack meeting!

[Tampa Turtle]

It doesn't say it anywhere--its just suggestions to help folks plan! We used to do what you did --"Hmm, cowboy theme--now what could we do that is fun..."

 

The character connections --which most boys have told me is boring--can be handled in a cubmaster minute. Maybe a good story...nothing more.

 

Keep saying "there is no cubscout police, there is no cubscout police..."

[Eagle92]

1) Has your CC gone through DL training at any level?

 

2) If DLs did not have the opportunity to do their own thing, then why are there Den Meeting Planner to help a DL plan their own meeting.

 

3) Some of the things in the book are not realistic or possible due to resources available.

[kari_cardi]

Wow, AnnLaurelB. My pack would truly blow her mind. Not only do we freely switch themes around to meet our scheduling needs, we also will completely skip themes if it doesn't work in our yearly schedule! It all gets covered eventually.

[ScoutNut]

It seems that your Charter Org(CO) has decided to keep the CC on.

 

Are you sure that it was not the CO that requested that the BSA's Pack meeting plans be followed?

[momof2cubs]

Gosh Ann, it just keeps piling on doesn't it? I wish you could find a pack that appreciates you. Any pack would thank their lucky stars to have someone like you in their midst.

[AnnLaurelB]

No, the CO has been really very hands-off, which is how I got into this mess in the first place.

 

I revived another thread on this, so I won't go into it, here. But the CC is on her way out; they're just letting her finish with B&G.

 

My point for this thread was that I wish that some people didn't take that darned "Delivery Method" as the Scouting Bible. This CC is ~exactly~ like the Scouting Police. Exactly.

 

I am coming to understand that it's a personality thing. I see that she must find great comfort in regulation. But there HAS to be some grace. There HAS to be some wiggle room. There HAS to be allowances for interpretation.

 

"There is no CubScout Police... There is no CubScout Police... There is no CubScout Police..."

[Tampa Turtle]

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!