The optimal first year program?

[EagleInKY]

Yes, they can relearn. But not the same material year after year. This will bore them.

 

For example, first years learn map & compass. 2nd/3rd years can learn GPS at the same time. Keeps the troop program in synch. Older scouts can do some geocaching.

 

Another... first years do hiking. 2nd years prep for a longer hike and each takes some gear. 3rd years learn backpacking basics and go on their first backpacking overnighter. older scouts plan a backpacking trip and take the 3rd years with them for the first time.

 

This keeps the guys along the same theme, but each growing at their own level. Hopefully it will help keep the guys interested in scouting longer, if the challenge grows each year.

[rjoy]

If you wait until the third year before go backpacking my fear is you would lose alot of scouts. When my son was in Cubs he had already been on 3 backpack trips in the Sierras, the duration of these trips were 3 to 5 days and ranged from 3 to 7 miles in, and they ate it up. Granted at the age of Cub Scouts they did not carry much but they did great and these outing secured their interest in Scouting. The trips also bonded the parents more and made them more involved.

 

The first year programs do not lend themselves the time to interject any such outings of that nature as they really do not schedule any time for those kinds of outings. I feel if the first year program was extended to 18 months it could give the options for these kinds of outings that would cement their interest in the Scouting program. I get comments from the boys all the time as to when they are going backpacking. I even hear from the Cubs coming into the Troop that they are looking forward to doing alot of camping and backpacking. The confidence generated by bacpacking is emeasurable to the Scouting experience and keeping the boys interested.

[Eagle76]

Or you get the situation in our troop. Nothing but car camping for the last few years; I guess the idea was that backpacking was reserved for Venture Crew. So now we have 12, 13, and 14 year olds who have never backpacked and are intimidated by it. Most (including all the youth leadership) took a pass on our short backpacking trip in October, but the 6 scouts who went (1-10 year old, 3-11 year olds, 1-12 year old, and 1-13 year old) did great, enjoyed it, and want to do it again.

[Eagledad]

You can do what we did a few years ago. We started doing short hikes into all our campsites (anywhere from a quarter mile to a mile). The PLC required the scouts carry everything in except food and tents. Our heavy car camping gear started getting replaced with lighter gear and the scouts got use to the idea of packing and using the backpacks. The gear we use on all our high adventure treks like Philmont and Northern Tier is the same gear the Patrols use each month on Troop campouts. Hiking from that point isnt such a scary thing then.

 

I do agree that scouts can backpack as soon as they join the troop. We adjusted the distances on backpacking campouts to the maturity of the scouts. New scouts usually can go three to five miles depending on the terrain. But even a mile is a lot of fun and builds a lot of confidence. We keep a few old packs around to loan to scouts who cant afford one yet. But I encouraged new scouts to look at getting a backpack as soon as they can. Not so much for backpacking, but for teaching him how to become self-reliant on living from only what he can pack. Packs also take up a lot less space in cars.

 

Barry

 

[rjoy]

Boys join Scouting for the out of door experience also in the hopes of becoming Eagle but not all join Scouting to become Eagle. The experience I want to endow my first years is fun and learning about Scouting Get thru Tenderfoot and then work on Second Class and finally First Class but I see that process taking 18 months that way I can incorporate more outdoors experiences.

[Beavah]

Back in da olden days, new scouts joined patrols. That was what the Patrol Method was about... it gave all of the PL's and APL's a chance to teach and lead; it gave all of the new scouts a bunch of older brothers to help them out instead of one overworked Troop Guide.

 

We never changed. Works great. The first year's feel like and really are full-fledged members. The older guys learn patience and service. Advancement doesn't become a dysfunctional "class work to be completed before I can have fun." Patrol competitions are fair, and the new scouts may "put their patrol over the top" rather than be left out or behind the big kids.

 

And most important, the kids on the PLC worry about how to do a better job for the new scouts, not the adults.

 

[rjoy]

I agree. I would prefer the old method also, but alas I have inherited the "new" way and I am forced to have to work from within. My aim is to have the boys back into the real patrols by the time they pass Second Class (the end of their first summer).