I Wish I Had (book, form, card) . . .

[dkurtenbach]

BSA produces lots of publications, forms, pamphlets, booklets, cards, etc. But is there something that you wish BSA would make available that you don't have now? Maybe something in a different form or format than what is available, or something new? For example, I wish there was a pocket-size booklet listing just the requirements for Webelos, Arrow of Light, and the twenty Webelos Activity Badges. Also, I wish there was a compact checklist of all of the Joining Requirements through First Class requirements, but with the requirements that contain multiple parts or tasks broken out into single items. Second Class requirement 3.g., for instance, reads: "On one campout, plan and cook one hot breakfast or lunch, selecting foods from the food pyramid. Explain the importance of good nutrition. Tell how to transport, store, and prepare the foods you selected." I'd like this checklist to break those out into something like this:

 

3.g.

___ Plan one hot breakfast or lunch for a campout, selecting foods from the food pyramid.

___ Explain the importance of good nutrition.

___ Tell how to transport the foods you selected.

___ Tell how to store the foods you selected.

___ Tell how to prepare the foods you selected.

___ On a campout, cook the hot breakfast or lunch you planned.

 

Dan K.

 

[moosetracker]

People can tell me if it is out there, but I have tried looking for it.

 

PDF formats for the Training Syllabus. I am told we can legally reproduce them for BSA purposes. Therefore I copied the pages and made my own PDF, but since they are only scanned images, the text is not searchable.

 

 

[oldisnewagain1]

...the missing Scout Handbook

 

 

You know the one with the Scout skills that use to be taught (i.e. fire building, pioneering, etc...)

[UCEagle72]

You know the one with the Scout skills that use to be taught (i.e. fire building, pioneering, etc...)

 

You can easily find those all over eBay and in most any used book shop. The 6th Edition (1959-1965), the 7th Edition (1965-1972) and the 9th Edition (1979-1990) were all written by Green Bar Bill -- but I would stick with the 6th or 7th.

 

(Heck, you look at the Eagle requirements in the 6th edition and you'll find out that they did not have a Leadership requirement - or a project requirement)

 

[oldisnewagain1]

Have the 7th, 8th (shudder), 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th editions.

 

... perhaps what I should have wished for was a missing supplement to the current Handbook. (more along the lines of the 7th or 9th)

 

 

[UCEagle72]

Of course, too me, the real supplement is the Fieldbook ... I wore the covers off mine as a Scout.

[Oak Tree]

I'd like a Cub Scout Requirements book that lists all of the awards available to Cub Scouts - even those that have individual councils or units setting the requirements.

[Speedy's DAD]

I would like to see more of the publications, forms, pamphlets, booklets, cards etc. in a format specifically for the Android and Ipod/Iphone, to make it easier to take with you. PDF format would work but making it specifically for the small form factor phones and searchable would be better. Even the handbooks for leaders to use for reference.

[SctDad]

I do not know about your council, but our council has a small (maybe 5X7) book that has all of the joining requirements and those through 1st Class. It uses a bead program to track progress, say hanging from a hiking staff. I thought that it looked a little cool if it was done in a manner that was seperate from the Cub Scouts.

[JMHawkins]

How about stock recruiting photos? Things like scouts hiking, camping, rapelling, pioneering, cooking around a campfire, sailing, archery...

 

Stock photos we could put on our website in the recruiting section so we don't need to buy stock photos.

 

 

[UCEagle72]

JM --

 

Check the BSA Marketing site, they have new images there each month - called their "Top 5"

http://marketing.scouting.org/Downloads/Top5Photos.aspx

 

[UCEagle72]

And the whole "Marketing Toolbox" -- http://goo.gl/FGgWr

 

[JoeBob]

A resource for Pack Level games.

 

Here's what I'm using now:

http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/games/wide/index.htm

[Kamelian]

heh heh... (blushes deep red & shuffles a toe around in the dust)...

 

Well... ahem... It appears that, among my books on scouting, I have copies of the many of the BSA editions on my office shelf. I'm still on the lookout for the 7th edition handbook, and the notorious much-panned 8th edition handbook, which I would happily adopt as my own if I could find them lurking about somewhere, and I'd also like to find a copy of the book for the extinct Poultry Merit Badge (coz I like chickens).

 

In the early to mid 1990's when my son became involved in the BSA program, I started buying Scout-related items here and there, for reference use, when I saw them offered for sale. I also have a copy of a large "Camping & Wilderness Survival" manual, that was sold in our local scout shop about a decade ago, a couple of the original 1912 Maitland books, and a few Girl Scout handbooks (most of which date from 1986 through 1995).

 

However, I found a very old GSA 1930 edition handbook that I purchased at an auction about 12 years back. Aside from the section instructing girls on how to set a table properly, some other stuff on housekeeping skills, and with differences in the merit badges offered, it turned out to be closer to the Boy Scouting program of the 1950's and 1960's than anything that's being portrayed in the more modern BSA handbooks today. And, of course, the Girl Scout program of today is so watered down from what it used to be that I am continue to be amazed they're still able to attract girls with any degree of intelligence at all. Juliet Low would roll over in her coffin if she had any idea what her programs have become. Around here, GSA books apparently aren't nearly as popular or sought after as BSA books tend to be. I'm still looking for the 7th & 8th edition handbooks, and a merit badge book on raising poultry to go with the one I found a few years ago on raising rabbits.

 

I love putting information together into a useable researchable format. Along with genealogy, it's probably one of the things I seem able to do best. I've typed event format for two camporee brochures, complete with the equipment lists, the reference resources, the cold-weather camping tips, and the signup sheets to go along with each one.

 

Here's the thing --- When I worked in the Scout Shop of our local council, there used to be pocket-sized cards available for individual boys or their parents (who were interested in tracking the progress through the ranks) that could be tucked into the pocket of a backpack and carried along to outside activities. I think they cost 50 cents to a dollar apiece - priced at a kid's allowance level. Some of them folded out to show about 4 sections printed front & back. Whatever happened to those?

 

I wish BSA - or some person or group sanctioned by BSA - would come along and produce the "Explanatory Explanation Material" that encompasses the historic information from the handbooks and related publications through the years, bringing forward the small details which all leaders everywhere would apparently die & go to heaven for if they knew it actually existed. DKurtenbach has the right idea. I'm not certain such a thing would work real well for PDA & IPod applications, since not all of us are techno-literate the way Speedy's DAD appears to be, but this is definately an idea that needs more work to make it a reality - at least on the district or council levels.

[UCEagle72]

Kamelian --

 

Check eBay and your local used book stores. 7th and 8th editions are easy enough to find - the old Poultry Keeping MB book may be more difficult (we had 75 chickens and 25 ducks when I was a kid ... and had lots of strange looks when I earned the Poultry Keeping MB 'cause to most of the kids in our troop we were in the "city" [My family lived in the town before it because a large suburb of Detroit]).