Moxie Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I'm leading a Bear group this year. How many Den meetings do you have a month? About what percentage of the achievements and electives are done in the Den meetings (last year, I would say that 75% of the achievements were done in our meetings and I felt stressed out to get them done-now I'm wondering if we should just have fun and make the kids do the achievements at home?)? How long are your Den meetings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 The number of meetings depend on the Pack. We only have two a month. There's a limited number of what you can cover, especially in Bears where so many rely on Family. A great resource would be Scouting magazine (or scouting.org). The magazine comes with outlines for Den and Pack meetings, divided by Den and covering many requirements :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 I have a Den Chief and he is great but I'm not sure what to do with him. What do you have your DC do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girligirlmom Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) I'm leading a Bear group this year. How many Den meetings do you have a month? About what percentage of the achievements and electives are done in the Den meetings (last year, I would say that 75% of the achievements were done in our meetings and I felt stressed out to get them done-now I'm wondering if we should just have fun and make the kids do the achievements at home?)? How long are your Den meetings? I am brand new to this - ds10 is starting Webelos, started Webelos I in March. Ds5.9 is starting Tigers in September. Dh and I are leading Tigers this year. Did you get a copy of the Cub Scout Program Helps? The Tigers, Wolf & Bears last year met twice a month and then had a Go See It except for September, December, February and June. They had overnight camp out (Fri- Sun) in October, February and June. Two parents were leading two groups, one was Tigers, the other was Wolf and Bear combined, but this year there will be 3 groups plus one combines Webelos. All trips were combined to make it easier on parents with multiple children. Webelos meet weekly and do not go on all trips. The Tigers level has 15 main achievements - 5 are Den activities, 5 are Family (done at home) and 5 are Go See It's. There are other achievements after the main 15. This outlined quite well in the Program Helps. At the Bear level things are scheduled in the Program Helps too with 4 meetings a month, but the 3rd week is all field trips, service projects, etc. The last week or the 2nd week seems optional, so really 2 weeks plus a field trip or service project should be enough. The Program Helps lists the individual achievements that should be accomplished in the Den Meeting, the ones that should be completed at home, and the Electives that could be completed at a Den Meeting with ideas for each one. I was strongly advised to not leave the first gathering without getting a commitment from each family to lead 2 meetings for a month plus a Go See It, so even if we have only 4 other boys in Tigers each would be responsible for a month with our help. More families means less work for each, as in each takes a meeting instead of a month. I'll see how this works in reality but the Assistant Cubmaster said he finally figured this out his 3rd year and he has been doing it this way ever since. He has 6 children, 5 are boys. Edited July 30, 2009 by girligirlmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkgumby Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 In our pack, the Bears meet weekly except for weeks we have a pack meeting. Do you have a copy of the Program Helps? They're only $3 at the Scout Shop - highly recommended!! One thing my husband did (he's a Wolf leader, but this will still apply) is to go through the book and make a list of which activities HAD to be done with a family or at home, and which he could feasibly do at a den meeting. Then he made an annual plan that rotated through everything he could possibly do to help these boys earn their Wolf badge. Not every boy gets support at home, so the more you can do as a leader to help them, the better chance they have of success! Have you had the official BSA Den Leader training? It will help a LOT with questions like these. Check with your local Commissioners/Trainers about the next upcoming training. (I'm a trainer - getting leaders properly trained is close to my heart!!) Den Chiefs are wonderful. The boys look up to them so much. Put him in charge of specific things - like the gathering activity, or a game at closing while you're wrapping things up. Great online resources: http://cubmaster.org/ http://www.boyscouttrail.com/cub-scouts/cub-scouts.asp http://www.olc.scouting.org/ http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/CubScoutHelps.aspx Good luck! (: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgm Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I'm leading a Bear group this year. How many Den meetings do you have a month? About what percentage of the achievements and electives are done in the Den meetings (last year, I would say that 75% of the achievements were done in our meetings and I felt stressed out to get them done-now I'm wondering if we should just have fun and make the kids do the achievements at home?)? How long are your Den meetings? 2 or 3 den meetings per month depending on the holiday schedule...if it's a 3 meeting month, one meeting will definitely be a field trip related to the monthly theme or to an achievement. 1 hr per mtg per the Pack leaders' decision and the recommendation from BSA. Family Ach. and God. Ach. all done at home...roughly one per month, remind them to think back about what they did over the summer. Ach at den mtgs: Our den did Ach. 3,4, parts of 6 (5 seemed a duplicate of Wolves & Tigers so we decided not to do it in the den mtg), 7, 14 (this is a good one for the Boy Scouts to help with if the pack is not doing a bike rodeo), 15 (split this up and use it for the opening activity), 16, 17b&c, 18e&h, 19, 20,22 (split up over several meetings), 24. Skipped 23 as all boys were involved in community sports and 23e was a pack activity that year. The boys will have a lot of fun if the ach are planned in to the den meeting..fun with a purpose right? I think the favorite was the bike rodeo because the cub games are unlike the Police Dept. games & the focus is on the games/skills rather than giveaways....they loved the drop the pebble in the can as you cycle by, slow race, and throw the newspaper to the steps (a la newspaper boy) & several parents shared tips from their newspaper delivery days. Ach. 22 was fun too - we had a wild west theme one month so they made rope & learned knots in the den mtgs and played games and showed off the magic trick at the pack meeting. Making rope is a lot of fun....someone should have a rope machine you can borrow..just ask at roundtable if nobody in the pack does. #7 was great - our P.D. is used to scouts coming for a visit and it's one those field trips where the dads make sure they are present. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 We meet each week for Cub Scouts. The last meeting of the month is a Pack Meeting. All the others are den meetings. The leader covers a different subject each meeting & helps the boys earn their belt loops. Usually 1-2 meetings can complete the tasks. Some loops that involve out of doors or family members are encouraged from home. Some are saved for camping or outdoor events planned for the pack or family camp outs. Our group is very active & boys always earn awards at Pack Meetings. What does your Pack recommend or do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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