What are your Scouts working on? (Boys & Girls)

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

 

We're supposed to say something significant at the ARrow of Light?!!!! My son has his coming up next month.

I am sure each pack tailors the ceremony in some ways. In ours, the boy's parents speak a few words of encouragement to him after he has received his arrow. They usually say how they have seen him mature, meet challenges,   and take on responsibilty. They speak about his character, strengths, and how proud they are of him etc. It is nice. Shows how unique each boy in the den is, though they have all accomplished basically the same scout things in a year. 

[Soror]

59 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

Just start new blue cards, then go through the requirements and see if the boy can answer intelligently about each. Sign, done, boom! And then immediately put them on his account! "Never ding a boy for a stupid on the adult's part." We no longer have adults hold blue cards--it's the Scout's job. Every time an adult has held them, there are problems. We've recreated cards that have been lost--not really too big a deal. We have a biannual mb rally in which ALL the records are ALWAYS lost. I finally just make up the blue cards when they get back. I'll get the info from the rally and they'll say the kid wasn't there. Um, I drove him, ate lunch with him, and picked him up. Fine. I can make a cute little Excel spreadsheet with the best of them. I like our camp now--they do the blue card thing right there, not a stupid spreadsheet that always gets lost. Then it's up to the BOY to hang on to the fool things!

Dh and the other leadershave no problem signing the ones they counsel but aren't MB counselors for several that he has. So, dh has contacted the district offices to get reprints, the other problem is that the old SM did not update advancement w/ National so he has to get that fixed. The boy is not being dinged for it at all, it is just work for my dh to get the reissued, work he is just doing because the old SM is refusing to give them to just be a jerk b/c he is mad the boy transferred, and he has enough on his table as it is.

[Soror]

2 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

 

I'm so sorry that your dh is having to deal with this. A lesson learned--make sure advancement is up-to-date before transferring. We're dealing with this with a transfer--fortunately, the mom was the adv chair for the troop the boy is leaving so she made sure it was all good. I think we should cross-stitch that caution and give a copy to each new Scout! I have the Eagle paperwork and OA stuff to deal with tonight for this boy. It's REALLY complicated when they get elected to OA but then leave that troop before Callout and Ordeal! Fortunately, the Section Chief contacted the Area Chief and the National Chief and figured it out for me. The boy will be registered in his original Lodge and then transfer to the new Lodge. It means paying two sets of dues, but that can't be helped. Sounds like we should all be grateful that BSA has guidelines for all this, unlike what some folks are going through with AHG. 

Yes, thankfully, BSA is very organized, even if some leaders aren't. Thankfully we've not had to deal w/ any boys being OA eligible

Do you mean boys should make sure their advancement is up to date? How would that work, by the way, I'm transferring so update my advancement? I don't think that he would have done anything to fix it anyway. I wonder too how would a boy know whether or not his rank is updated w/ National if your SM doesn't use Scoutbook. Can you call? Dh's new Troop does Scout Book so every kid and parent knows their rank and everything they've done and need to do for advancement but in the old Troop they just used Troopmaster and the boys were not ever told anything, rank was often months to years out of date. And now the new SM wants nothing to do w/ Council or National, it is an utter mess. 

[scoutingmom]

Well, my son has done the work to complete the 4 badges his Scouter has agreed will be for his "challenging program"... his final requirement for the Chief Scout Award.  Will test for them on Tuesday...

There used to be a big cerimony for the recipients of the Chief Scout Award and the Queen's Venturer Award (and Scouters getting awards) with the Lieutenant-Governor... but I haven't heard anything....  not sure if we are too late, or if it isn't happening this year...  :|

 

[SKL]

Well, thank goodness, my daughter passed the Board of Review and got her badge signed off.  It was a productive day, though I personally was way stressed out.  :P  The kids practiced for the cross-over ceremony and did some service projects while most of the adults were doing Board of Review and badge sign-offs.  Hopefully it will be low-stress for several months now.

[Soror]

SKL congrats to your daughter

[ScoutTN]

6 hours ago, SKL said:

Well, thank goodness, my daughter passed the Board of Review and got her badge signed off.  It was a productive day, though I personally was way stressed out.  :P  The kids practiced for the cross-over ceremony and did some service projects while most of the adults were doing Board of Review and badge sign-offs.  Hopefully it will be low-stress for several months now.

Hooray for the new Pioneer!  

[ScoutTN]

Back from quick camping trip. The girls got a great trail ride yesterday and all morning of riding and horsemanship lessons today. Thankful for a covered arena since we began the day with a thunderstorm and the rain hasn't let up yet..

 

[scoutingmom]

In a couple of days, our family will have...  44 cases of chocolate bars.  30 bars per case.  About 1 month to sell them.   It is for the 2 oldest kids to go to summer camp.  We have managed that amount before...  but, this year we do not have a working car.  (After selling the nearby streets, we would drive the kids to a street within the community and the kids would sell door to door... we would move the car forward, refill their boxes, etc.  Or even when we had a storefront to sell at the car was needed to get the bars there.  Doing that number of bars was challenging within the time even then.  I'm really worried.

[Sherry in OH]

Finding a new troop and pack.  We visited one troop last night.  Oldest ds liked them, but we want to visit a few more before deciding.  It will be a hard decision. DS loved his small troop in Ohio.  He really misses it.   There are no small troops here.  

Younger ds plans to try the feeder pack for the troop older ds chooses.   He has just his Arrow of Light year to go before bridging to Boy Scouts.  He is looking forward to being with his big brother.

[Ravin]

DS's pack has a campout this coming weekend. We went to the last one, and there were some issues (related to safety, supervision, and leadership communication). Hopefully this one will be better organized (and not rained on)! The leadership scapegoated the climbing instructor, so he won't be volunteering with the troop/pack any more, which is too bad because he clearly knew what he was doing; he didn't have backup from the leaders or eyes in the back of his head.

[Soror]

Ds had his Court of Honor and officially received his Life rank.

Our AHG camping trip is being downgraded w/ to a day trip, since I'm not sure I can go (fil in hospice) we don't have enough leaders. Plus, it has been significantly cooler than usual. I'm relieved b/c I just got too much going on. 

Tonight I'm going to the info meeting for the new boy/girl Pack, we'll see what happens. We might do summer day camp if nothing else b/c we don't have the manpower to pull it off and I thinkt he girls will like it. I'm considering volunteering b/c I know how it goes but I'm holding off for now.

[City Mouse]

My DS got his letter stating that he is being hired to work at our council's Boy Scout camp. His last day of school is 5/31 (incentive to get his online classes finished early) and he reports to camp on June 2nd. He turns 16 on June 17. He will have to stop work one week early for his troop Philmont trek. 

The pay is very low, but he is allowed to attend any merit badge classes that fit around his work schedule, and he found out from his week last summer that the camp does a pretty god job of providing gluten free meals including gluten free pizza on pizza night.

[Amber in SJ]

We just attended the troop's COH.  Ds got his next rank advancement (Star) and 5 completed merit badges.  It should have been 6 but the MBC for the reading merit badge has been ducking ds's calls to get the final item signed off.  I couldn't figure out what was going on until the kerfuffle I posted about with the woman at church who cyberbullied my dd for her political opinions.  The MBC is that woman's husband, so I feel like they just don't want anything to do with us.  Because there is only one more requirement to be signed off and I have pictures of him completing it, I might go to another leader.  It is the reading merit badge for heaven's sake, not cooking or one of the other required for Eagle badges.  Anyway, Ds is working on a couple more merit badges that just need one or two finishing touches.

Amber in SJ

[Amber in SJ]

Our troop has confirmed that they are doing their 50 mile hike in Yosemite, including Half Dome as their super activity this Summer.  They were supposed to do a 30 mile hike of the lakes in Yosemite last Summer but the wildfires put the kibosh on that, so they did their 30 miles in Tahoe instead.  I am a little nervous about ds going 50 miles and climbing  Half Dome.  He is a very small 13 and can't carry as much weight in his pack.  Dh is going.  He took dd on this hike when she was 14 and it was the year there were several deaths in the park due to inexperienced hikers who ignored the warning signs or weather warnings.  He has gone with the scouts to Yosemite on this hike for the past 10 years (or so) even when we didn't have a kid in the troop so he is very experienced and he is able to take the extra weight for ds.  Just like the November ocean canoe trip, I just have to tell myself it will be OK.  Dh will be there, and he is not one to take unnecessary risks with the kids.  :)

Amber in SJ 

[scoutingmom]

My son has officially earned his Chief Scout Award as of tonight!   They need to order the badge yet.  I don't know if there will also be a big cerimony in the province anymore or not... I think it is usually in May so hopefully he isn't too late.

I can't remember how many challenge badges (sort of like merit badges) he has earned... they are 4 wide and fill his sleeve...

 

[ScoutTN]

Here is my Camporee story:

Friday morning I recieve news that a white supremacist organization is having a conference at the lodge of the park where we will be and the local paper has published a pot-stirring article, complete with photos of police in riot gear from Charlottesville. The troop leading Camporee confers at length with the park staff and decides Camporee will still happen. Our troop leadership passes this along to our people and gets major criticism from some families who choose not to participate. I trust the leaders and finish packing, but still worry a bit in the back of my mind. 

Mid-afternoon,  I had a van full of gear, Dd and two of her AHG friends. We stopped at my mom's to drop something off on our way out of town and my van died. I called AAA, they said two hours until a service truck could get there. I begged. In 45 minutes AAA arrived, started my car and told me my starter was bad and that my van would not start if I turned it off. Meanwhile, I had let the moms of the other two girls and our troop people already at Camporee know what was happening while the girls played outside at my mom's. One of the moms came (whose anniversary it was and who had been headed to a nice hotel with her Dh) and we loaded most of the gear and all three girls in her van. I headed out for our mechanic's shop and she headed to Camporee. There was metal debris on the interstate and she hit it, blowing out a tire. There were 10+ cars on the side of the road with flat tires. There was a wide, grassy hill off the shoulder, so the girls sang camp songs and chatted til the mom's Dh came to change the tire. The state trooper took a long time to arrive, but he posed for a photo with the girls before he left. The van had only a baby spare so they switched all the gear again into the husband's SUV and headed out. They arrived at the campground at 9:00 and with a small army of helpers, set up huge, new, oddly configured tent (for all our Pioneers and Patriots to sleep in) that no one had ever set up before. The girls stayed up way too late, sharing their adventures and winding down from the adventure.  I went out the next day in another vehicle, since by the time we got my van settled and I got home it was amost 9:00.  

The rest of the weekend was lovely! Sunny and a little cool in the daytime. Cold at night. Dd earned the Climb On badge and decided she needs to work on upper body strength. I led the Explorer Hiking badge twice and decided that 5-6 miles in a day is not wise for this out of shape, over 50 yo mom. I enjoyed being with the girls and meeting other leaders. We were on the other side of the park from the lodge where the conference was held; several miles. Other than men (either AHG dads or park staff) at the check in gate to our campground area, nothing unusual. There was a golf tournament and a 5K race in the park Saturday too. Our troop had good attendance, won the dutch oven dessert contest and enjoyed being together.  

 

[Ravin]

We are trying to get DS caught up to finish his Tiger since he started late in the fall. Does anyone know if the cyberchip internet safety pledge forms are online somewhere or do we have to get it from the den leader? I ask because the den leader is ready to be done and kind of cruising along at this point and I'd as soon have him just give her the signed form next Monday. I did email her about it, also.

[SKL]

One of the older girls in our AHG troop set up a fundraiser at a skating place, for the 2nd year explorers to satisfy the requirement to help plan and run an event.  We were all set to do this for my youngest (who is crossing over next year), but thanks to work, and the fact that it was an hour away from us, we didn't get there in time to meet the requirement.  So that requirement is still open for my kid, but she has already done everything else for the level award and she has an idea for planning an event next year.  The skating party was fun and I really appreciate the family who provided the opportunity, even if we failed to make full use of it.

I can't remember if I posted this already - my older kid's event was the 21st and went well.  Only one other family attended, but it was a big family, so I felt good about it.  I had been worrying that it would be only the 3 of us representing our troop.

Cross-over / recognition is this Thursday.  Other than making sure my kid knows her lines, and remembering to bring the uniforms, and getting done with work on time, it should be a relatively stress free evening for us.

[Ravin]

Thanks, @Margaret in CO

[Ravin]

For us, DH is a reluctant participant at best. He takes DS to his den meetings, and stays because he's a Tiger so it's not optional. I'm the one doing the campouts, etc., but I'm not in town during the week to show up to committee meetings or volunteer as den leader, etc. Some parents do have to choose between dropping the kid off and having them not participate at all. I'd rather see a boy attending by himself (once he's old enough) than not getting to do scouts at all, kwim?

[ScoutTN]

51 minutes ago, Ravin said:

For us, DH is a reluctant participant at best. He takes DS to his den meetings, and stays because he's a Tiger so it's not optional. I'm the one doing the campouts, etc., but I'm not in town during the week to show up to committee meetings or volunteer as den leader, etc. Some parents do have to choose between dropping the kid off and having them not participate at all. I'd rather see a boy attending by himself (once he's old enough) than not getting to do scouts at all, kwim?

Yes, I feel the same way. We have a couple families in similar situations in both of our scouting organizations. 

[ScoutTN]

SKL, it might make your next year easier if the Explorer and PiPa leaders can confer now about next year's calendar, so your rising 6th grader will have her event scheduled for early in the year.  Our leaders do that stuff at the end of year leader meeting, so there is less work to do in the craziness of the fall and so we know who is leveling and what each girls still needs. 

Does your troop  have a good Advancement Chair? 

[SKL]

2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

SKL, it might make your next year easier if the Explorer and PiPa leaders can confer now about next year's calendar, so your rising 6th grader will have her event scheduled for early in the year.  Our leaders do that stuff at the end of year leader meeting, so there is less work to do in the craziness of the fall and so we know who is leveling and what each girls still needs. 

Does your troop  have a good Advancement Chair? 

I don't know, I'm not in leadership and there are always so many changes.  The leader's daughter graduates this year IIRC.  Leader has been trying for years to get people to step up, but she does a lot herself.  She says she plans to continue next year, though her daughter will be done, but I have no idea how that's going to look.  Without rehashing things I've mentioned here before, I don't think we had anyone super focused on advancement this year, and I don't know about next year.

I like your idea to get an early start.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of face time with the leaders, especially at this time of year when my work gets crazy (huge deadlines in June).  I guess I could have my daughter shoot an email to the leader roster for next year (which, I don't have the roster yet).

Maybe I should offer to be the advancement chair in the future.  Sounds like something I could do without a lot of on-location time.  Hmm.

[SKL]

Interesting, the comment about scouts being a drop off activity.  You mean it isn't??

I struggle with this as a single mom with a demanding job and a long drive between home and scouts.  There aren't that many AHG troops around; we joined the closest one, which is a minimum half hour drive in good traffic (but with meetings at 6:30 Thursdays, and most of the route going away from a large city, there is almost always a traffic jam).  Just getting there (usually late) is freaking stressful every single time.  They do most of the announcements and admin stuff before the meeting or in the first few minutes, and within about 15 minutes they clear away all the sign-up lists / family files etc.

Most of the parents who aren't leading a unit / activity go to a room and either work or chat.  If I have urgent work, I do that.  Sometimes I chat and sometimes I take the rare opportunity to go for a nice walk around the neighborhood.  I don't know any of these people outside of scouts and we have little in common - most of them are homeschoolers who live in that area and do other stuff together.

I'm afraid to commit to any responsibility that requires me to be at scouts at a specific time, because my work can get hairy and it can be really hard to leave before 6 on a Thursday.  Nobody I work with cares about my kids being in scouts, and when things get difficult, the question "why don't you drop that activity" always comes up.  More stress.

I feel like an outsider and my kids don't really have any good friends in scouts.  Sometimes I feel unwelcome.  I think the activity is good for my kids, but maybe it's not so good for me.

So if I manage to get myself or a helper to get my kids there and drop them off, I really hope this doesn't generate negative feelings against us.  We pay our fair share and I do some work for the troop.  Not as much as some others, but it's what I can do right now.

[chiguirre]

4 hours ago, Ravin said:

Some parents do have to choose between dropping the kid off and having them not participate at all. I'd rather see a boy attending by himself (once he's old enough) than not getting to do scouts at all, kwim?

 

5 minutes ago, SKL said:

 

So if I manage to get myself or a helper to get my kids there and drop them off, I really hope this doesn't generate negative feelings against us.  We pay our fair share and I do some work for the troop.  Not as much as some others, but it's what I can do right now.

 

I've been or am currently a GSA leader, a Cub Scout den leader and a BSA registered adult. Don't sweat it, seriously. Most leaders enjoy being leaders and doing the activities or we wouldn't volunteer. We need enough people for two deep leadership for child protection purposes and enough hands to help out at meetings and big events but we don't need every parent to stay every time. As long as you cheerfully help out when we need you and don't complain if our best laid plans blow up sometimes, it's okay. The goal is for the kids to try out new things and have fun and gain confidence. If you're helping reach that goal, you're good.

[felicity]

Good news! My ds15 was just awarded his Star Scout at our Court of Honor tonight. He also earned 7mb, 6 of them Eagle required badges. 

And my ds17 has finally found an Eagle project. Whew. He turns 18 in December so it wasn’t an emergency but still. Now he just has to find his suddenly missing sash. ?

[SKL]

So now my 11yo is a Pioneer (AHG) so she can start working on the badges needed for Stars and Stripes.

I was looking over all the Pi/Pa level badges to figure out which ones would be good to start in the near future.  Most of the ones I looked at had requirements that seemed geared to older kids.  I guess that is the downside of having 6 years to work on all the Pi/Pa badges.

Also, quite a few of the badges seem to be expected to be done as a unit (or bigger group) vs. individual.

I am clueless as to how they run the PiPa unit.  I know the girls have a lot more autonomy or whatever.  I'm not sure what that looks like as far as what my kid and I have to do.  Guess we'd better try not to miss the next couple meetings.

[vonfirmath]

I know a lot of the Pi-Pa badges end up one step needing to teach a younger AHG student something.  But yes, they do tend to take longer to finish than younger level badges.

 

[raptor_dad]

DS11 has only gotten bits of advancement done since done since summer camp due to him being flaky and having a somewhat chaotic time due to a particularly weak SPL. Overall it is fine. He should finish 2nd Class and 1st Class at camp, which is nice since then he'll get the cool woven rope lanyards(a troop tradition going back to at least the '40s) for ranks earned at camp.

The big project that has taken up the spring is we are sending 3 crews on Boundary Waters trips in early June. I'm an adult leader on DS11s crew which is all 12yos and DS. We currently have 5 scouts and 3 adults for a 4day/3night trip. Last weekend was free. Weekend before DS11 was camping with the scouts and I was at our local outdoor expo going to talks on BWCA and  river expedition canoe planning. For Mother's Day weekend I'm doing a 16hr of Wilderness First Aid course. The weekend of the 19th, we are camping with the Cub Scouts. DS9 is a Bear and DW is the Webelos Den Leader. DS11 is a Den Chief and we'll go unless we end up doing canoe prep that weekend instead. Lakes in the Twin Cities just iced out last week. One of our local parks has a 7 lake canoe portage trail we plan to do before our trip and we might do it that weekend depending on transport for our canoe trailer and finding portage yokes. Otherwise, we'll do it later and rent park canoes.

[Laurel-in-CA]

On 5/6/2018 at 9:35 PM, vonfirmath said:

I know a lot of the Pi-Pa badges end up one step needing to teach a younger AHG student something.  But yes, they do tend to take longer to finish than younger level badges.

 

 

At least in our troop, the girls split up responsibility for researching badge requirements and sharing with the group. Many of the teaching requirements are done on Class B all-troop meeting nights once/month. And then the leader may do things like schedule a speaker or a field trip. Our troop doesn't do much w/other troops because the closest is 2 hours' drive away, and this year there was no one to plan a multi-troop camporee. We did have another troop come out and do a badge with us and the pipas did a fair amount of the teaching.

[ScoutTN]

My AHG Pioneer is coasting a bit right now. Last meeting for the yr is this week. She will earn quite a few service hours in May, working at her volunteer gig and at church. She has earned the gold level Presidential Service Award this year! Well over 100 hrs if community service. 

She will finish up Money Management and Theater on her own this summer and get 4 or 5 other badges at Camp. We turned in her requests, but haven't heard back yet.

SKL, doing some of the more involved badges as a unit does make them a bit easier for younger PiPas. Just keep an eye on tbe frontiers, so she has a badge from each one by the end of 8th for her next level award. Also, look at ones she's done (and liked) as an Explorer bc she will have already completed the prereqs. Some of the PiPa badges start with, "If you did not earn this as an Explorer, go back and do requirements 6-10." Ugh! 

Our PiPas choose two besides the all-troop badge to do each year. As a troop, we do three frontiers one year, the other three the next, so all 6 are covered in 2 yrs for levels. We will do Outdoors, Heritage and Personal Well being badges next yr. since we did Arts, Family Living and Science ones this year, as a troop. 

[Soror]

My Explorers finished their Biking badge last night, they started it in the fall during our Camp out and our 10 mi ride last night completed it.

Sat. we are having our Mother - Daughter Tea and Monday is our Red, White, and Blue. We're really pushing recruitment to see if we can get our numbers up.

My girls also made cars for the Pinewood Derby for the new co-ed Pack, although at this point I don't think we'll be switching. They've had very few girls the times I've been there. I'm happy enough w/ my younger girls staying in AHG and I don't want to end up doing even more work then I already am, starting a new Troop is a much bigger priority b/c the program is lacking much more in the older ages than younger.

Ds has been acting as SPL, he was voted in ASPL but the SPL has been out nearly every week with various things. They've got Spring Camporee coming up on the 18th but I think that is the last big thing until Summer Camp in June.

Dh and I did Challenge Course training this past weekend, it was incredible. We can't wait to do it with the boys. I'd like to try and take my AHG girls too but their age restrictions are tighter and we don't have that many older girls, maybe if we can recruit some more we can make it worthwhile, otherwise I'll do it w/ dd once we can start a girl's Troop. 

[vonfirmath]

5 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

My AHG Pioneer is coasting a bit right now. Last meeting for the yr is this week. She will earn quite a few service hours in May, working at her volunteer gig and at church. She has earned the gold level Presidential Service Award this year! Well over 100 hrs if community service. 

She will finish up Money Management and Theater on her own this summer and get 4 or 5 other badges at Camp. We turned in her requests, but haven't heard back yet.

SKL, doing some of the more involved badges as a unit does make them a bit easier for younger PiPas. Just keep an eye on tbe frontiers, so she has a badge from each one by the end of 8th for her next level award. Also, look at ones she's done (and liked) as an Explorer bc she will have already completed the prereqs. Some of the PiPa badges start with, "If you did not earn this as an Explorer, go back and do requirements 6-10." Ugh!

 

We were warned about this so are trying to cover a bunch of badges at the Tenderheart level so, at least as Explorers, they have a wider range they have already completed the basics on.

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

 

We were warned about this so are trying to cover a bunch of badges at the Tenderheart level so, at least as Explorers, they have a wider range they have already completed the basics on.

The most important ones are the 9 Stars and Stripes required ones. 

[SKL]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

 

We were warned about this so are trying to cover a bunch of badges at the Tenderheart level so, at least as Explorers, they have a wider range they have already completed the basics on.

Of course the other side of this is that if you've done it as an Explorer, you have used up some of the easier "extra requirements" and have to choose three harder ones.  Or, in some cases, you are required to re-do things with a slightly different focus, having "used up" the more interesting / low hanging fruit at the earlier level.  For example, we just finished the World Heritage badge as Explorers.  At that level, each girl had to choose 3 countries to research and present about.  For PiPas to earn this badge, they have to re-do much of the Explorer badge but using 3 new countries.  They are also required to involve the younger girls, who, having just finished the badge, would probably not be too keen on more of same.

I had looked over the required PiPa badges to see which ones did benefit from doing the Explorer level first.  The only one I really wanted to do for that reason was Money Management, but I never got around to it.  Now, looking at that badge at the PiPa level, it seems kind of old for an 11yo so we will probably wait on that one anyway.

I think Camping might be another one you are wise to do as an Explorer.  My kids already had that one early on, since they went to AHG summer camp and several troop campouts, so luckily I didn't have to fuss about that one.

[vonfirmath]

34 minutes ago, SKL said:

Of course the other side of this is that if you've done it as an Explorer, you have used up some of the easier "extra requirements" and have to choose three harder ones.  Or, in some cases, you are required to re-do things with a slightly different focus, having "used up" the more interesting / low hanging fruit at the earlier level.  For example, we just finished the World Heritage badge as Explorers.  At that level, each girl had to choose 3 countries to research and present about.  For PiPas to earn this badge, they have to re-do much of the Explorer badge but using 3 new countries.  They are also required to involve the younger girls, who, having just finished the badge, would probably not be too keen on more of same.

 

 

We just earned World Heritage this year at Camporee -- Japan, India and Malawi (I think?)  The badges were taught by Pi/PA teams. They did flag, a taste of food, some information about the country, animals, and a craft from it.  (And it stuck! My daughter saw a flag on a Pandemic card and said "That's India" I was confused and went huh and she ran and got the flag she'd made at Camporee) Even thought they can only earn the badge once, it was so interesting I know my kid would want to go just to learn other countries as well.

 

(As for being bored about doing a badge again... Our Pi/Pas taught the Insect/Bug badge at Campore (in March) and some of our Tenderhearts were there. But one also needed to run a special event.  So she came (in April) and did the entire badge for our whole Tenderheart 1/2 group over two meetings -- and even the Tenderhearts who had already had the information were involved and enjoyed being part of it again!)

 

ETA: I will take a look at what the Stars and Stripes badges are and see what we can do for those.

[scoutingmom]

My youngest earned her "North Star" award in Beavers, and "swam up" to cubs.

 

[chiguirre]

Trinqueta will be teaching the parts of a sail boat to the scout troop next week and then they're going to a sailing camping trip on Lake Livingston. That will complete her ship service hours and she'll make her Apprentice rank. Her ship is planning to do a summer cruise in June and I think she'll go to Mariner summer camp in July.

[scoutingmom]

The provincial award ceremony was tonight, where he was recognized for earning his Chief Scout Award.  It appears that there were only 2 recipients this year in our province, and no Queen's Venturer Award recipients at all....  I don't inow what is up with that...

 

[Amber in SJ]

Dh & Ds went to scout camp last week.  He earned Emergency Prep, Basketry, Rifle, finished off Camping and most importantly his Swimming merit badge.  This is important because this child hates the water.  He will not put his face in the pool.  It's weird because he loves the ocean.  Anyway, with a bribe from dad he persevered.  He has completed all his merit badges except one for Eagle & is one month away from Life Scout.  Then it is on to project time.  We are racing the clock because we belong to an LDS troop and they are only staying together through Dec of 2019.

Amber in SJ

[SKL]

My eldest survived / enjoyed her first weekend campout as a Pioneer.  She had been nervous about it because she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do or whether she'd be prepared.  I couldn't stick around since it is a very heavy time for me work-wise, and my younger daughter skipped the campout as she has already earned her Explorer camping badge and is unreliable about staying away from family overnight.  (My job was to buy the food for one of the meals & bring it to camp.  Also to take care of the wet tent after coming home from camp.)

I hope eldest made some progress toward her fire safety / fire building, camping, and canoeing badges.

Youngest has done lots of volunteering, so she has probably earned enough service stars for the level.  However, she wants to earn the President's award, so on she goes.  I have some ideas for the other kid to volunteer also, but that is later in the summer.

We have made zero progress toward badges I wanted to work on over the summer.  However, I didn't expect to get anything done in June as it's too busy.  Hoping to start the creative writing, family helper, and internet adventure badges in July.

Youngest needs to plan an event for the troop in order to get her level award next year.

In other news, I somehow allowed myself to be talked into signing on as a "leader" - to help with numbers rules.  I hope I don't regret this as work demands can be pretty unyielding often times.

[Soror]

@scoutingmom= congrats to your son!

@Amber in SJ- Kudos to your son!

My son came back from summer camp last weekend, I've been meaning to hunt down the thread. He just earned 3 badges, honestly, I can't remember what- they're all extra electives. He's earned all his Eagle and Elective MBs required (except Sustainability which he's been working on finishing forever). Also, he is ASPL but the SPL was at NYLT so he was acting SPL, he had plenty on his plate but did a great job. I thought he finally finished Sustainability but now he's lost his sheets tracking food waste and has to do that again. So, he's got another 2 weeks working on that. 

He and Dh helped another boy in their Troop with his Eagle Project, first in their Troop. I think he just about has everything done.

The SM from the problem Troop has quit, shocking (not). I think they were down to maybe 5 boys, 2 were his. Dh is hoping they don't get any transfers since he gave them advancement without recording it in any way.

[felicity]

Hi everyone, I have a question for you. DS17.5 is working on getting his Eagle Project accepted. (Also, I know. It’s killing me that he waited so long. But here we are.) He has sent his counselor several versions of his proposal, all of them coming back with “need more info.” So he’s done that. He’s revamped it, added more info, and sent it back to her. But...no it’s radio silence. She knows the deadline is coming up and it is not her responsibility at all to manage my kid and make sure he finishes on time. But, she sent it back to him two weeks ago. He got on it two days later and sent it back to her. And nothing.

Like I said, I know it’s not on her to make up for my kid moving slowly on his project. (It also isn’t my responsibility, but we haven’t done this before so I’m trying to gather some info.) I’m just getting nervous. He’s emailed her a quick, “hi, did you receive it” twice now. Anything else you would recommend he do? Thanks.

[ScoutTN]

My Dd just finished 4 badges at camp: Sign Language, Creative Writing, Cake Decorating, and Survival, Search and Rescue.

She has to complete a CPR course to finish off Emergency Preparedness. 

[SKL]

I think it's been good for my younger to be separated from her sister this year.  She enjoys the social aspect of scouts more now that she has to reach out vs. hanging in her sister's shadow.  This past week she enjoyed a service project with some of the scouts.  (Our troop mostly takes summers off, but we get together on occasion.)

Both girls have done some work on creative writing this summer, so I am hoping that can jumpstart a badge or two.

They've also been involved in horse riding enough that elder may be able to get her PiPa horsemanship badge soon.  (Younger already has hers at Explorer.)

Elder got in another night of tent camping this past week.  So 3/10 done with that requirement of the camping badge.

We really haven't done anything yet toward the family helper or internet badges as planned in July.  I still hope to get those going before school starts.

This year's fundraiser is going to involve car washes ... because of where we live and how it's designed, I think we will just pay off the $100 per kid, but I will see if I can still get my kids to do the washing and have my own car washed.  It should be fun!

I took the basic and KEYS training and now I need to look into First Aid / CPR training.  It would be nice if I could do this with my kids (or one of them).  Not sure whether that's realistic though.

Nice to see all the online information available to leaders.  I wish more of it was available to non-member parents.

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

I think it's been good for my younger to be separated from her sister this year.  She enjoys the social aspect of scouts more now that she has to reach out vs. hanging in her sister's shadow.  This past week she enjoyed a service project with some of the scouts.  (Our troop mostly takes summers off, but we get together on occasion.)

Both girls have done some work on creative writing this summer, so I am hoping that can jumpstart a badge or two.

They've also been involved in horse riding enough that elder may be able to get her PiPa horsemanship badge soon.  (Younger already has hers at Explorer.)

Elder got in another night of tent camping this past week.  So 3/10 done with that requirement of the camping badge.

We really haven't done anything yet toward the family helper or internet badges as planned in July.  I still hope to get those going before school starts.

This year's fundraiser is going to involve car washes ... because of where we live and how it's designed, I think we will just pay off the $100 per kid, but I will see if I can still get my kids to do the washing and have my own car washed.  It should be fun!

I took the basic and KEYS training and now I need to look into First Aid / CPR training.  It would be nice if I could do this with my kids (or one of them).  Not sure whether that's realistic though.

Nice to see all the online information available to leaders.  I wish more of it was available to non-member parents.

Hey SKL, you can do CPR with a kid 12 and up here. It is a requirement for the PiPa Emergency Preparedness badge. 

Hate to tell you, but PiPas need 12 camping nights. ?

[SKL]

3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Hey SKL, you can do CPR with a kid 12 and up here. It is a requirement for the PiPa Emergency Preparedness badge. 

Hate to tell you, but PiPas need 12 camping nights. ?

LOL well ok then 3/12.  ?

My kids aren't 12 yet, so maybe I will just push off the first aid training until next year if possible.  We'll see ....

[SKL]

Hi!  I had to get more involved than I originally expected right up front this year.  The main leader of my kid's PiPa group had a family situation that required me to jump right in.  A past leader helped out.  I guess it's for the best, as my usual inclination is to keep a low profile and thus miss stuff I might need to know later.

Our troop had its fall campout last week.  My youngest didn't go, but this is probably the last one she can skip if she expects to get her Stars & Stripes.  Eldest now has 5 of the 12 camping nights and has made progress on fire safety and outdoor cooking (I guess).

The PiPas haven't started their list of what they plan to work on this year, because so far it's been all about camping.  So far only the very youngest PiPas have been in attendance.  The Explorers have about 5 badges planned - I don't remember what they are.  Miss E already has more than enough badge work to get her level award - she might need a few volunteer hours and does need to plan and run an "Event."

The girls have been so busy every weekend since school started, we have done zero scout work at home.  I am hoping to get them ready to turn in for sports pins.  They should be able to get martial arts & volleyball and probably one could get running at this point.  The work done for that should be transferrable to a physical fitness badge for my eldest, I would think.

We made some progress on the family helper badge back in August, but we still have a ways to go on that one.

My youngest wants to try for the presidential service award.  Not sure if I can get my eldest to try.  I heard about some volunteer thing at the zoo - I will see if it is interesting to her.

[chiguirre]

Trinqueta is doing an instruction weekend for her Mariners Mate rating this weekend and I'm going to help in the galley. Right now we've got a raging thunder storm and the weather forecast is grim for the whole weekend. Fingers crossed that it clears up enough to sail or she'll have to try again in the spring.