Events being cancelled? Or modified?

[RememberSchiff]

BSA National Annual Meeting (NAM) May 20-22, in Washington, D.C. ?  

[69RoadRunner]

9 minutes ago, desertrat77 said:

I'm relieved you mentioned that, because I chuckled as well!

I mean, he could go by Richard or Rick.  But he doesn't.  It's a choice he made.

[desertrat77]

2 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

BSA National Annual Meeting (NAM) May 20-22, in Washington, D.C. ?  

My prediction:  "doubtful."  Especially DC.

They should move the event to Philmont.  Sleep in tents.  Eat the same dining hall food served to trekkers.  Spend one of those days in the back country, stacking logs and making slash piles. 

[Treflienne]

6 hours ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I have no thoughts of having meetings anytime soon.  I was hoping to not YET give up on this scout year.

Looking on the bright side of things,  I am trying to encourage my scouts to take initiative on merit badge work,  and find things they are interested in doing rather independently while at home.   Maybe we can get away from a "merit badge class" mindset - which is unfortunately the mindset of the boys' troop to which we are linked.   Even if a scout cannot complete all the steps of a particular merit badge class, there are a lot of steps of a lot of badges that can be done quite well at home, and there is a lot of "discuss" interaction with a merit badge counselor that can be done by  telephone (or by whatever one's preferred electronic communication system is).

[MattR]

7 hours ago, Eagledad said:

I wasn't thinking right or wrong, I was thinking that scouting is way way down on a families priority list. They can call a meeting, but even in the best conditions, who would come.

Barry

I agree that a meeting is not high on anyone's list. But social interaction is going to become more and more important. Extended solitude is hard on the spirit. This could go all the way through summer. I'd love to be proven wrong but, we all know the motto.

I was wondering about different ways to have social interaction for kids without the contact. Make a pioneering project out of pencils, string and rubber bands. Patrol chess or checkers via zoom with side channels to strategize. Make a treasure map using google earth or maps. If one can set up multiple meetings, one for each room in a puzzle, that might be fun as the scouts skip from room to room. Have each scout make a campfire in their backyard and then connect with zoom to sing, tell stories, or the usual games like cross sticks. If you can't make a fire go into your closet with a flashlight. Other ideas?

[yknot]

I think we are over thinking this. Up to 100 or 150 years ago, most kids grew up isolated on the family farm with just  parents and siblings. Some of the greatest human beings known to man grew up this way. I don't think a few weeks, months, or even a year of this is all that bad. We'll get through it. Wouldn't it be great if the long term benefit of this pause in our overly frenetic lifestyles is that kids learn how to think and concentrate again instead of living in our non stop ADHD world. 

[ianwilkins]

3 hours ago, yknot said:

I think we are over thinking this. Up to 100 or 150 years ago, most kids grew up isolated on the family farm with just  parents and siblings. Some of the greatest human beings known to man grew up this way. I don't think a few weeks, months, or even a year of this is all that bad. We'll get through it. Wouldn't it be great if the long term benefit of this pause in our overly frenetic lifestyles is that kids learn how to think and concentrate again instead of living in our non stop ADHD world. 

Are they turning off the internet and no one's told us yet? 

[69RoadRunner]

I'm thinking about offering the personal fitness MB.   I might need to find a substitute for the pull-ups.  Not everyone has a safe means of doing that at home and I clearly don't want people using playgrounds.  Pull-ups for some scouts are pointless if done typically.  MANY people can't do one.  When my son did it, we went to our gym.  I got one of those long elastic bands, wrapped it around the bar and he stepped in it to assist.  That way, he was able to do pull-ups and get stronger.

I'll have parents verify that the exercises are done.  Scouts can certainly run/jog for 9 minutes outside while keeping a safe distance.

[Eagledad]

2 hours ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I'm thinking about offering the personal fitness MB.   I might need to find a substitute for the pull-ups.  Not everyone has a safe means of doing that at home and I clearly don't want people using playgrounds.  Pull-ups for some scouts are pointless if done typically.  MANY people can't do one.  When my son did it, we went to our gym.  I got one of those long elastic bands, wrapped it around the bar and he stepped in it to assist.  That way, he was able to do pull-ups and get stronger.

I'll have parents verify that the exercises are done.  Scouts can certainly run/jog for 9 minutes outside while keeping a safe distance.

This is a great idea. 

8 hours ago, yknot said:

I think we are over thinking this. Up to 100 or 150 years ago, most kids grew up isolated on the family farm with just  parents and siblings. Some of the greatest human beings known to man grew up this way. I don't think a few weeks, months, or even a year of this is all that bad. We'll get through it. Wouldn't it be great if the long term benefit of this pause in our overly frenetic lifestyles is that kids learn how to think and concentrate again instead of living in our non stop ADHD world. 

There was an expert yesterday explaining that humans are social by nature and that we can't stand long periods of time without socializing. He felt our government would have to do something to satisfy that biological need. But, I agree with yknot that humans have gone thousands of years without starving for group socializing because they satisfied that need through family. And I think something valuable will came from this thing for our culture because I watched numbers of families going for walks and riding bikes together all this weekend. I haven't seen that in years. As a religious person, I have been questioning where God's nature will come out of this and seeing these families was a sign of hope for me. Family. 

That's me of course, but it's comforting in a time of stress.

Barry

[69RoadRunner]

9 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

This is a great idea. 

 

Thanks.  I already had one grandmother, who is the guardian for one of our scouts, thank me.  She wants to do the MB with her grandson.

[Eagledad]

17 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

Thanks.  I already had one grandmother, who is the guardian for one of our scouts, thank me.  She wants to do the MB with her grandson.

Well there you go, a family activity. These are the ideas that needs to spread.

Barry

[BAJ]

15 hours ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I'm thinking about offering the personal fitness MB.   

My daughter is doing Personal Fitness remotely now.  She’d actually met in person with the counselor once before all this started and is now doing tele-meetings every three or four weeks to talk progress on her program and talk through one or more requirements (first one under quarantine was last week, with me hanging by for YPT compliance).  His flexibility and hers schedulewise meant that discussion was likely longer and in more depth than it would’ve been with the face to face model.  Working really well so far (and doing the fitness program is helping manage the time in stay-at-home mode too.

[swilliams]

On 3/23/2020 at 10:11 PM, Treflienne said:

Looking on the bright side of things,  I am trying to encourage my scouts to take initiative on merit badge work,  and find things they are interested in doing rather independently while at home.   Maybe we can get away from a "merit badge class" mindset - which is unfortunately the mindset of the boys' troop to which we are linked.   Even if a scout cannot complete all the steps of a particular merit badge class, there are a lot of steps of a lot of badges that can be done quite well at home, and there is a lot of "discuss" interaction with a merit badge counselor that can be done by  telephone (or by whatever one's preferred electronic communication system is).

I'm working on the hiking merit badge with one son.  It was started with a group of scouts from the troop, but can't be finished together at this point.  That's going okay, and we (I was in as a second adult and advancement chair, much to my son's dismay, lol)  just finished up a Zoom meeting with the counselor for all the boys that began the badge.  That was okay, with only six scouts and the counselor.  But the same son also started an online merit badge class with Central Florida Council...

My impressions of that are varied.  This particular one is Sustainability, and son needs a couple Eagle-required badges.  I wanted to watch along with him to see what kind of content they offered and whether this would be an effective way to host 'meetings'.  So, on the one hand, it's great they're stepping up and offering something for scouts.  On the other, sitting through almost two hours, as well-prepped as it was, with a PowerPoint presentation and videos, wasn't fun or exciting or even very engaging.  I started getting the 'do I have to watch this' after only fifteen minutes, and he still has three two-hour sessions to go, plus the 30 day family portion of the merit badge.

I don't see this being any kind of long-term solution.  Or even more than a one week novelty.  Online classes and meetings, imho, are not going to be enough to keep scouts scouting.  I'm just hoping most families don't drop by the wayside before this is all behind us. 

[Treflienne]

54 minutes ago, swilliams said:

son also started an online merit badge class with Central Florida Council...

 

54 minutes ago, swilliams said:

I don't see this being any kind of long-term solution.  Or even more than a one week novelty.  Online classes and meetings, imho, are not going to be enough to keep scouts scouting

Thanks for your description of how the online class format worked.

My council is also pushing online merit badge classes, and I am a little skeptical.

On the other hand,  my daughter started a new merit badge.  Spent an hour conversing one-on-one by phone with the merit badge counselor who is an older adult who lives in our neighborhood.   It looks like it is going to be a really good experience. (Because of YPT she put the phone of speaker phone,  so I could listen in.)   Of course there are a couple of steps that she won't be able to finish until the quarantine is over,  but a great deal of the work on this badge can be done at home.  

Rather that push for online mert badge classes,  I am trying (with not a lot of success) to have self-motivated scouts take initiative and work rather independently on merit badges.

[RememberSchiff]

2020 West Point Scoutmaster's Council Camporee cancelled.

Facebook link:

Dear Friends and Family of Scouting,

It is with great sadness to inform all of you that the 2020 Scoutmaster’s Council Camporee has been cancelled due to health concerns of COVID-19. Our staff had been working hard to make this the best Camporee yet and we were excited for all of you to be able to experience it. We will be sending out further guidance on the refund process and other matters in the coming weeks via email. For those who were accepted this year, we would also like to extend an invitation to attend the 2021 Camporee since we know many of you were looking forward to this event. Please bear with us as we navigate through these issues during this uncertain time. We hope that you all are staying safe and healthy and we will get through this together. Thank you for your patience and we hope to see you next year!
- The SMC Command Team