New Cub Scout Program

[SeattlePioneer]

Our new Webelos Den Leader was also an excellent Wolf and Bear Den Leader. 

 

I got him the new Webelos handbook and Program Helps for Webelos,  and he asked how he could get through all the material in the new program.

 

 

That has been my concern about the new program too  --- it seems like FAR too much detail is expected of Cub Scouts and Den Leaders.

 

 

In my view, the heart of Scouting is to learn to live by the Scout Oath and Law.

 

Boys discover that if they are going to go camping,  they NEED to live by the Scout Oath and Law to be successful and avoid killing each other out of frustration!

 

 

So in my view,  all the academic junk in Cub Scouts is really optional.  The priorities are that boys learn how to get along with each other and with adults, and how to be decent to other people,  and to learn to Do Your Best.  If you learn that,  you have learned most of what's important in Cub Scouts.

 

The PROGRAM ought to provide some of the grist for learning those values.

 

 

Instead, the academic program has eaten the Scouting program almost whole.

 

In my view,  the proper priorities in Cub Scouts should be 1)  HAVING FUN   2. Learning to get along with other boys and adults  3)  Being in the habit of doing your best

 

 

Cub Scouts seems to be getting farther and farther away from those values and priorities.

 

 

Incidentally,  I rarely hear much in the way of comments about Girls Scout program.  It seems that Girls Scouts are free to do whatever the leaders want to do,  as long as they sell cookies.

 

I'm thinking Cub Scouts could do with leaving more up to Cub Scout Leaders and less trying to dictate a lot of detail with what they should do.

[SlowDerbyRacer]

Our new Webelos Den Leader was also an excellent Wolf and Bear Den Leader. 

 

I got him the new Webelos handbook and Program Helps for Webelos,  and he asked how he could get through all the material in the new program.

 

 

That has been my concern about the new program too  --- it seems like FAR too much detail is expected of Cub Scouts and Den Leaders.

 

 

In my view, the heart of Scouting is to learn to live by the Scout Oath and Law.

 

Boys discover that if they are going to go camping,  they NEED to live by the Scout Oath and Law to be successful and avoid killing each other out of frustration!

 

 

So in my view,  all the academic junk in Cub Scouts is really optional.  The priorities are that boys learn how to get along with each other and with adults, and how to be decent to other people,  and to learn to Do Your Best.  If you learn that,  you have learned most of what's important in Cub Scouts.

 

The PROGRAM ought to provide some of the grist for learning those values.

 

 

Instead, the academic program has eaten the Scouting program almost whole.

 

In my view,  the proper priorities in Cub Scouts should be 1)  HAVING FUN   2. Learning to get along with other boys and adults  3)  Being in the habit of doing your best

 

 

Cub Scouts seems to be getting farther and farther away from those values and priorities.

 

 

Incidentally,  I rarely hear much in the way of comments about Girls Scout program.  It seems that Girls Scouts are free to do whatever the leaders want to do,  as long as they sell cookies.

 

I'm thinking Cub Scouts could do with leaving more up to Cub Scout Leaders and less trying to dictate a lot of detail with what they should do.

 

And I rarely hear any comments about the Girls Scouts beyond selling cookies.  I have no idea what they do or stand for.

[SlowDerbyRacer]

Our new Webelos Den Leader was also an excellent Wolf and Bear Den Leader. 

 

I got him the new Webelos handbook and Program Helps for Webelos,  and he asked how he could get through all the material in the new program.

 

 

That has been my concern about the new program too  --- it seems like FAR too much detail is expected of Cub Scouts and Den Leaders.

 

 

In my view, the heart of Scouting is to learn to live by the Scout Oath and Law.

 

Boys discover that if they are going to go camping,  they NEED to live by the Scout Oath and Law to be successful and avoid killing each other out of frustration!

 

 

So in my view,  all the academic junk in Cub Scouts is really optional.  The priorities are that boys learn how to get along with each other and with adults, and how to be decent to other people,  and to learn to Do Your Best.  If you learn that,  you have learned most of what's important in Cub Scouts.

 

The PROGRAM ought to provide some of the grist for learning those values.

 

 

Instead, the academic program has eaten the Scouting program almost whole.

 

In my view,  the proper priorities in Cub Scouts should be 1)  HAVING FUN   2. Learning to get along with other boys and adults  3)  Being in the habit of doing your best

 

 

Cub Scouts seems to be getting farther and farther away from those values and priorities.

 

 

Incidentally,  I rarely hear much in the way of comments about Girls Scout program.  It seems that Girls Scouts are free to do whatever the leaders want to do,  as long as they sell cookies.

 

I'm thinking Cub Scouts could do with leaving more up to Cub Scout Leaders and less trying to dictate a lot of detail with what they should do.

And I'll take a stab at a more serious answer too.  I like that the CS program has defined standards.  That's what allows it to be consistently recognized (unlike the GS which I commented about doesn't seem to stand for much beyond cookies to many).

 

Regarding the new program, I say let's give it a chance.  It needs at least a year or two for some best practices to be developed and shared.  At least initially I think the renewed emphasis on more traditional scoutcraft is a good thing.

[Sakitama]

First off, you don't have to get through ALL the material.  All those electives in there, you only have to do 4 or 5 over the two ranks.  Only like 7 pins a year.  The new Den Leader book is very helpful in giving you ideas on activities to do with your boys during the Den Meetings.  We just finished Moviemaking, took 2 Den meetings and a Saturday Finish Filming and Cutting Floor party.  The boys presented their movie 3 minute movie about the Scout Law with little skits demonstrating each point at a pack meeting tonight.  Each boy did chose 2 pieces of the law to storyboard, got to direct their scenes, and use the camera.  One of our leaders is hobby videographer, but the book gave suggestions on how to even use a cell phone or series of still shots chained with powerpoint.  I see the new program being EASIER than the old and bringing more of the outing and outdoor opportunities back into scouting.   

[Eagle94-A1]

I admit I have not looked at all the details. But from the literature it takes 14 months to get both the Webelos Badge, and AOL Badge. I'd focus on the Webelos Badge, then as soon as they finish, start working on AOL. Unless you are LDS, then I would either work on both at the same time, or skip Webelos and go directly to AOL.

 

IMHO the powers that be didn't really think through the Webelos program full when they came up with it. I bet we see some updates in the years to come.

[gumbymaster]

Under the new program, other than shared book and electives, the Webelos Program and AOL program are effectively separate.

 

So the usual year to get through the Webelos Badge and another 6-9 months to get through AOL seem to fit the program guides very well.  Getting through the minumum 7 activity badges should be possible without too much hair loss.

 

As for academics, I've always seen the Webelos Activity badges as more vocational and hobby oriented - much like the Boy Scout merit badges.  The new program really is geared to helping the Webelos better prepare for what to expect when they get to Boy Scouts - I think it will do that, but we'll have to wait a year or three to really know.

[SlowDerbyRacer]

Under the new program, other than shared book and electives, the Webelos Program and AOL program are effectively separate.

 

So the usual year to get through the Webelos Badge and another 6-9 months to get through AOL seem to fit the program guides very well.  Getting through the minumum 7 activity badges should be possible without too much hair loss.

 

As for academics, I've always seen the Webelos Activity badges as more vocational and hobby oriented - much like the Boy Scout merit badges.  The new program really is geared to helping the Webelos better prepare for what to expect when they get to Boy Scouts - I think it will do that, but we'll have to wait a year or three to really know.

 

Not really.  You could theoretically do all your Webelos and AOL requirements and electives intermixed throughout year one.   (Or at least most of the AOL requirements - I don't have the book nearby to check but maybe the Duty to God requirement might need to be done in year 2 - unsure) .  And then all year 2 would need to be is the 6 months of active den participation (and I think some other ancillary requirements like child protection or other.)

[Eagle94-A1]

Under the new program, other than shared book and electives, the Webelos Program and AOL program are effectively separate.

 

 

Because of the way the LDS program works, Webelos and AOL will need to remain together and doable within a year.

 

As for the 2 Duty to God requirements, no where in the book that I've read so far says Webelos Duty to God requirement must be earned in 4th grade and the AOL Duty to God requirement can only be earned in 5th grade. Again, the way the LDS program works,  they must work on both awards at the same time.

[gumbymaster]

I had forgotten to account for the LDS structure, thank you.

 

I guess you could actually earn all the necessary activity badges for both awards during the Webelos year.

So other than the six month requirement (and maybe reearnng/recertifing cyber chip - I don't have the requirements in front of me at the moment), I guess you could do it quicker if you wanted.

[ShutterbugMom]

Overall, I think the new requirements are pretty good.

 

I do not like some of the requirements such as going grocery shopping as a den.  It really doesn't work very well.  We tried to do this as a den last night and only 2/9 boys showed up since it wasn't a regular meeting night.

 

Also, I would like it if the tasks were separated for tracking a little better.  For example, this task (part of Cast Iron Chef) included the menu planning AND going shopping.  So what do I do?  We menu planned at the last meeting, then went shopping a few days later.  So some have only finished half, so I cannot mark it as complete.

Edited September 24, 2015 by ShutterbugMom

[Eagle94-A1]

How often does your den camp? You could plan another trip for the next camp out.

 

Also under cast iron chef, the meal planning can be for family or den. Personally I like den. model as it can come as a shock for new Boy

Scouts doing shopping for the first time. In fact, i discovered parents doing the shopping instead of the Scouts and they tend to go overbudget, buy more than they need, and buy the wrong stuff. Seen this multiple times after the fact.

 

True story, my son's patrol has a kitty as a result of them doing a budget. And shopping by themselves. Whatever is left over fom shopping goes into the kitty. They have had the camp fee for one trip paid out of it, had a Cook Out patrol meeting, etc. The one time a parent did the shopping, they bought too much stuff and went over budget.

[bbender]

Some ideas on delivery of the new program are posted here:

 

http://www.southfultonscouting.com/node/3163

 

Given the greater "outdoor" emphasis and "hands on" approach, and the continued (and increasing) challenge of finding den leaders, a good bit of the commentary is to lure parents to see how they can work together to deliver the program in an easier and fun way ... since some potential volunteers fear the time investment.  There's lots of fun ways through the program that don't require classroom work ...  

[meyerc13]

Also, I would like it if the tasks were separated for tracking a little better.  For example, this task (part of Cast Iron Chef) included the menu planning AND going shopping.  So what do I do?  We menu planned at the last meeting, then went shopping a few days later.  So some have only finished half, so I cannot mark it as complete.

 

It isn't complete.  Those who didn't show up for the grocery shopping will have to plan a menu for their family and do the shopping.  We're planning on doing the grocery shopping trip on a normal meeting night, luckily for us it worked out because our meeting location wasn't available that night so we had to either cancel or do an outing.  Our Bear den will join us at the grocery store since they have a similar requirement.  Our AoL den will do a Troop Visit that night.  Our Tiger and Wolf dens get to visit the police department (our Bear and Webelos did that two years ago).