ScoutNut Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 From the current BSA Youth Application - "Your son can be a Scout if he has completed the fifth grade and is at least 10 years old or is age 11 or has earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but has not reached age 18." A boy MUST be at LEAST 10 years old, even at the end of fifth grade. A 9 year old has not met the age requirement for joining Boy Scouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 From the Website http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/joining.aspx Meet the age requirements. Be a boy who is 11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old. Taken from an pdf of the application at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-406a.pdf Boy Scout Troop/Varsity Team Boy Scout Troop Your son can be a Scout if he has completed the fifth grade and is at least 10 years old or is age 11 or has earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but has not reached age 18. 1. Complete the application (sign your name, indicating approval). 2. Give the completed application and fees to the Scoutmaster. 3. Secure a copy of the Boy Scout Handbook and complete the joining requirements as listed. Makes ya wonder which is correct(This message has been edited by Basementdweller) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdidochas Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Basement, I was thinking the same thing. Different official scout sources seem to be wording things just a bit different. Which is "most" official? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 What else is new in regards to official sources contradicting each other. If it helps, P17 of the current BSHB states the following: Joining Requirements ___Meet the Age requirements. (in smaller print below) Be a boy who is 11 years old, or one who has completed fifth grade (emphasis mine) or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10years of age, but is not yet 18 years old. So a 7 year old who has completed 5th grade meets age requirements according to the BSHB and national website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 So how long before we have a home schooled 8 year old eagle???? Brings us back to the argument for a minimum age for eagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle732 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Another source meritbadge.org says "Your son can be a Scout if he has completed the fifth grade and is at least 10 years old or is age 11 or has earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but has not reached age 18." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momof2cubs Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 That's where I got my original quote. From the meritbadge.org site. The way it reads, if he completed 5th grade, he can be in boy scouts regardless of age. I never thought about the homeschooling implications. Could become interesting. EDIT:i just thought of something: PORs. From what I understand PORs are dependent on a)being elected (by other scouts) or b)being appointed by the SM. I have a hard time believing that any SM would appoint a 9 year old to a POR or that he would be elected by his "peers" to a POR. It could happen, I suppose, but it seems unlikely. Unless dad is the SM. And that has been known to happen. (This message has been edited by momof2cubs)(This message has been edited by momof2cubs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horizon Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Re POR - My son was Patrol Leader with nothing but a Scout badge on his shirt. His Troop did a NSP, and his buddies elected him Patrol Leader. So in his case, I could easily see him having the POR knocked out in time for a young Eagle role. Mind you, instead it took him 9 months to get his Tenderfoot instead due to his fear of the SMC and BOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Merit badge org has bit me in the butt a few times....It is not an official BSA site MeritBadge.org is an online, open-content collaborative encyclopedia developed by volunteers and is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) It is a great thing, but I would not base a decision on it's content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Horizon....if memory serves me....His pre-first class POR's don't count..... I believe it reads http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/star.aspx While a First Class Scout, serve actively for four months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horizon Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Basement - you are correct. I meant that I could see a 10 year old joining the BSA due to skipping a grade, hitting FC if he was dedicated and serving in his POR for Star, Life and Eagle without a problem if his patrol mates kept electing him PL after he earned FC. My example was my kid at 11 being a PL with zero experience (and I was not yet Scoutmaster). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Well the homeschooling comment really hit home this afternoon. As you know I home school, and I got the test schools today. Son is in 3rd grade, but overall reading is at the 4 grade,1 month mark, math has him in the 5 grade month and overall score of 4 grade, 7 months, or Age 10 years 2 months. So while I bet we could get away with him skipping a grade, it ain't gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5yearscouter Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 The application I have in hand states "Your son can be a Scout if he has completed the fifth grade and is at least 10 years old, or is age 11 or has earned the Arrow of light award and is at least 10 years old but has not reached age 18. so it seems they want at least age 10 with grade under their belt or AOL under their belt, otherwise age 11. I will ask for the most recent application at council when I go later this week to compare. I know the adult application changed very recently, the pages open on the left side instead of at the top, in theory to make it harder for people to miss that they need to sign the authorization page for a background check. As for missing out on a scout due to age, Sometimes SM's are very uncomfortable with cub scouts who haven't joined the troop because they are just too young participating in all the activities of the troop. Sure Webelos come to visit, but their parent and/or den leader is along for the meeting. Having a cub scout meeting with the boy scout from Feb thru June when they can finally join just seems like an bad idea. Boys and parents tend to get frustrated, going to meetings and activities but not being able to get signed off and parent should really be at the meetings each week as well. I don't fault any SM who doesn't want to take on babysitting a webelo for months on end who isn't old enough to join the troop the way you are supposed to. It's not just that hey they are a registered scout so they are covered by insurance so you can let them pretend to be boy scouts. There are joining requirements for a reason and I don't like skirting around the reasons. If he were that gung ho about scouting, he would have stayed in webelos and been a help to the webelos 1 den who he is friends with at school, and who are his same age and finished up some of the other 12 webelos badges that weren't required for AOL. it seems often to be a matter of parent pushing more than it is a matter of the scout truly being ready to move on to boy scouts in age and maturity level. kind of rambling there a bit sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 5 year.....we have very different perspectives. First your application reads the same as mine and the link I posted.....There are two contradictory statements one on line and scout handbook and the second on the application. Sad your SM will not let a young man come to about 10 meetings and 3 outings before joining the troop. Just curious, what activities would the scout be to young to participate in?????? I would let him be a guest, continue with his friends, den mates into the Patrol and scouting experience. Instead he was met with rule book thumping, inflexible, insensitive adult leaders...... Uncomfortable, I call it a sad excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle732 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I would certainly allow the boy to visit, be an honorary member of a patrol and take part in meetings after a discussion with the boy and parents about what the limits are. A parent would have to attend all camping trips and I would only allow the boy to attend outings with activities that are appropriate for Web aged boys. As an example he would not be able to go canoeing with us. I have done this before and it has worked out fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now