Rant: New Girl Scout Badge Books

[AuntPol]

$18!! They are crap. 13 badges in the Cadette Book. 3 of the 13 badges are about selling cookies. There are 5 badges for each of the 3 journeys but apparently you have to buy those separarely (and separately from the journeys themselves). I'm still trying to find out how to obtain those the information on those badges. There is a total of 28 badges that they can earn in 3 years.

 

The girls that were in the troop last year hated the AMAZE journey. I hated it as well. We did some serious adaptation to the point that the books were worthless and this year, I am not requiring them to buy one.

 

The new girls looked at the journeys and hate it. First words were boring. Nobody wants to do one. They have to do one for the silver award though and all want to earn silver. That is the main reason the girls are in Scouts is to earn the gold award for transcript purposes and do badges.

 

THey all want to do badges but none of their interests are reflected in the Cadette level badges. For example, they want to do a dance badge. However, dance badge is for Brownies. Performance category for cadettes is public speaking. You are only allowed to create ONE badge of your own each year.

 

I also think the requirements to earn a badge have been seriously dumbed down -epsecially compared to American Heritage Girls and Boy Scouts. There are 5 steps to earn the badge and it takes 8 pages to tell you what to do! It's so busy with all kinds of crap fluff. (Not very green if you ask me!)

 

I go to leader meetings and it's all "make the troop about the girls want to do" and "Girls scouts is all about the girls". Well, our troops girls and most girls that I know want to do lots of outdoor stuff, earn badges and do not want to do journeys. It seems to me that the Girls Scouts as an organization need to practice what they preach and be about what the girls want!

[KarenNC]

I'd suggest you look to the various Council's Own awards available from groups around the country. There's also the option to make one badge a year that is the girl's choice. Unfortunately, the website for that won't go live until February, but you could certainly talk to the troop and tailor that to their particular interests (and make the requirements as stiff as you like). There are also earned patches that can help fill in.

 

I'm not wild about the new books either (just got my daughter's Cadette book--she's a new Cadette), but at least they integrate the Journeys, since one is now required.

[unsinkable]

$18!! They are crap. 13 badges in the Cadette Book. 3 of the 13 badges are about selling cookies. There are 5 badges for each of the 3 journeys but apparently you have to buy those separarely (and separately from the journeys themselves). I'm still trying to find out how to obtain those the information on those badges. There is a total of 28 badges that they can earn in 3 years.

 

The girls that were in the troop last year hated the AMAZE journey. I hated it as well. We did some serious adaptation to the point that the books were worthless and this year, I am not requiring them to buy one.

 

The new girls looked at the journeys and hate it. First words were boring. Nobody wants to do one. They have to do one for the silver award though and all want to earn silver. That is the main reason the girls are in Scouts is to earn the gold award for transcript purposes and do badges.

 

THey all want to do badges but none of their interests are reflected in the Cadette level badges. For example, they want to do a dance badge. However, dance badge is for Brownies. Performance category for cadettes is public speaking. You are only allowed to create ONE badge of your own each year.

 

I also think the requirements to earn a badge have been seriously dumbed down -epsecially compared to American Heritage Girls and Boy Scouts. There are 5 steps to earn the badge and it takes 8 pages to tell you what to do! It's so busy with all kinds of crap fluff. (Not very green if you ask me!)

 

I go to leader meetings and it's all "make the troop about the girls want to do" and "Girls scouts is all about the girls". Well, our troops girls and most girls that I know want to do lots of outdoor stuff, earn badges and do not want to do journeys. It seems to me that the Girls Scouts as an organization need to practice what they preach and be about what the girls want!

 

Ugh. I'm disappointed to read this!

 

Thanks for the review, though. I can't wait to see the books myself now.

[elfgivas]

i simply can't bring myself to look.....

 

that said, all our girls loved the journeys they've done so far... it was the leaders who weren't quite so fond, as it took more work for us.

 

sigh....

 

ann

[piraterose]

Unfortunately, the requirements for the "skills" badges (the 3 sets of 5 that are paired with the journeys) have not been released to any council.

 

Believe me, it's driving me nuts, because my Brownie have the opportunity to do pottery in two weeks and I don't have the requirements for the Brownie Potter badge.

 

Be glad you have the binders, our council has not gotten them in yet.

[jcgonczi]

I agree with you 100%. The information on the separate badges you can do with the journey isn't even available yet. I hate everything about it.

[Shellydon]

I agree. Girls Scouts has turned into public school. This will be our last year.

[oldskool]

I agree about the badges. It was sooo disappointing to see how few there are to choose from and they are really watered down. The expense is crazy and the $18 price is just for this year. Next year they are going up to around $26 and there will be additional pieces added. I was told to expect the entire badge book to top at around $40. That is not including any of the journey books. I was embarrassed last week when having new members sign-up and telling them all of the things that they will have to pay for. I know that they have grants, but many people don't feel that they should be needing to apply for those. Not a great situation to be in as a leader.

 

Lesley

[Shellydon]

I agree about the badges. It was sooo disappointing to see how few there are to choose from and they are really watered down. The expense is crazy and the $18 price is just for this year. Next year they are going up to around $26 and there will be additional pieces added. I was told to expect the entire badge book to top at around $40. That is not including any of the journey books. I was embarrassed last week when having new members sign-up and telling them all of the things that they will have to pay for. I know that they have grants, but many people don't feel that they should be needing to apply for those. Not a great situation to be in as a leader.

 

Lesley

 

 

Will you continue on with GS, or move on to something else?

[mo2]

Bummer. I haven't even gotten ours yet, although I've ordered it. Last year my Brownies hated the Journey. This year I am leading Juniors so we'll see how it goes.

[oldskool]

Will you continue on with GS, or move on to something else?

 

I feel I have no choice but to continue. When I signed on as a leader I didn't know that it would be so complicated. But now that I have already got families to make a commitment it would be hard for me to walk away. Plus, I really do like many things about GS. I just don't think that they have good organizational leadership or are in touch with what families really want/need. I also could really use more guidance as a leader. The badge books and journeys have not been explained to me yet, but I have to somehow tell families that they have to all buy the materials. Frustrating. For now I will stick it out. My oldest dd has been a registered GS for going on 10 years and we would like her to finish it out through high school. After that we'll see how the younger dd feels.

 

Lesley

[Excelsior! Academy]

Wasn't Camfire Girls originally created as the opposite of boy scouts? Could you look into them and see what they have available?

[NorthwestMom]

I agree about the badges. It was sooo disappointing to see how few there are to choose from and they are really watered down. The expense is crazy and the $18 price is just for this year. Next year they are going up to around $26 and there will be additional pieces added. I was told to expect the entire badge book to top at around $40. That is not including any of the journey books. I was embarrassed last week when having new members sign-up and telling them all of the things that they will have to pay for. I know that they have grants, but many people don't feel that they should be needing to apply for those. Not a great situation to be in as a leader.

 

Lesley

 

 

I agree with this. I am really disappointed in the Journeys and the new badges. We are a very hands-on troop. We choose to do very little reading/writing type things because most of my PS 4th graders do a ton of that at school and we want them to have as many hands-on experiences as possible. I also have one child with learning disabilities who is indistinguishable from the others EXCEPT for reading and writing, so this would be a terrible thing for her. We are NOT doing them. Once we run out of the older badges, we might choose a totally new meting style, but I guarantee we are not doing expensive workbooks.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Dd12 was very disappointed with last year, and this year as a new Cadette she is even more disgusted. Her reaction after the last couple of meetings..."If I wanted to do school-type stuff I'd go to public school!" I looked through the books and found them very bleh. First of all they are all over the place...don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to the layout. The pages are very distracting. The leader's book doesn't seem to be very clear either.

 

Her troop is doing the Breath journey, (I think that's what its called)and it all seems soooooo politically correct and save the earth one blade of grass at a time type stuff. That's great if your into that but dd isn't and so there doesn't seem to be many other options for her.

 

All of this just adds to her negative feelings about GS. The last two years have been an exercise in frustration for her. Her leader has not relinquished control of the troop over to the girls, and vetoes most of the activities they want to do. Her troop is FINALLY spending the money the girls have earned over the last year and a half on a trip to DC in June. The girls had to just about mutiny to get the leader to agree that they should get to choose what to do with the money. I think what actually swayed her was me mentioning that I was going to go up to the council to ask about carrying large amounts of money over from year to year. Once that trip is over dd has said she won't continue with GS. I'm just sorry that she has to endure all the way until June just to get to do something fun.

[higginszoo]

I haven't seen everything yet (our council still isn't distributing books -- I'm hoping to get to see one for a while at level training on Sunday). I have 1st graders, but since we don't want to keep re-buying new books, uniforms, etc., and since we're all homeschoolers and believe that grade level is somewhat arbitrary :001_smile: -- we're doing Brownies. I just planned the first semester with classic Brownie-type activities, like back when I was a Brownie and there weren't try-its, etc. I'll work on fitting them in to badges, etc. later ... in the meantime, we've been working on learning the promise and law, going to the fire station, learning first aid, planting flowers, making recycled art, visiting a retirement home. It is a pain supposedly having a program and not really being inspired, or in some cases able, to use it, but I think that the girls will still have fun. My older dd's Cadette leader has her work cut out for her, though.

[AuntPol]

Her troop is doing the Breath journey, (I think that's what its called)and it all seems soooooo politically correct and save the earth one blade of grass at a time type stuff. That's great if your into that but dd isn't and so there doesn't seem to be many other options for her.

 

We are doing the Breathe one too. I have to laugh because they want us to save trees but take up 8 pages to tell us how to earn the tree badge!.

[AuntPol]

I feel I have no choice but to continue. When I signed on as a leader I didn't know that it would be so complicated. But now that I have already got families to make a commitment it would be hard for me to walk away. Plus, I really do like many things about GS. I just don't think that they have good organizational leadership or are in touch with what families really want/need. I also could really use more guidance as a leader. The badge books and journeys have not been explained to me yet, but I have to somehow tell families that they have to all buy the materials. Frustrating. For now I will stick it out. My oldest dd has been a registered GS for going on 10 years and we would like her to finish it out through high school. After that we'll see how the younger dd feels.

 

Lesley

 

I'm in same boat. I need more help as a leader but can't get any real help. You are not allowed to say anything negative at any of the leader meetings. It's all rah rah!

 

My daughter is also in American Heritage Girls We love the badges of American Heritage Girls but the "must wear ugly uniform" and "way too long in multi-group meetings getting preached at" and lack of girl input (the latter two may be specific to our particular group though) are not very exciting there either. I feel like are overcompensating for the lack of religion of the Girl Scouts to the point they are turning off the girls.

 

My daughter wants to stay in GSA long enough to earn her Gold Award. She really wants to be a Boy Scout because they have better badges, more prestige with the Eagle, and do a lot more cool stuff (with so much more support w/Merit Badge University, more leaders, more boy led).

 

I want to quit as leader but I have these other girls to think about. However, I really do dread this upcoming year. I have no joy.

[higginszoo]

My daughter wants to stay in GSA long enough to earn her Gold Award. She really wants to be a Boy Scout because they have better badges, more prestige with the Eagle, and do a lot more cool stuff (with so much more support w/Merit Badge University, more leaders, more boy led).

This is my dd, too. My boys' troop might have a Venture crew by the time dd is old enough, though that's not entirely the same. Our council cancelled the High Adventure weekend they had planned that she was really looking forward to ... no reason as to why ... but now I see they have a Journeys weekend planned for the same camp the same weekend. She is less than enthused, but she's a 7th grader in a 6th grade troop (until very recently, our SU was very homeschool unfriendly, to the point of almost being hostile, finding a troop was hard -- this one is run by a hs mom, so she joined last year, even though she was a Cadette and they were Juniors, but got very little done for any of her own awards). Dd needs to get going to get one Journey done in order to be sure to have time to do her Silver.

[lejardin]

My DD is working outside of a troop right now (Independent GS although no longer called that lol) and we meet with another girl and her mom doing the same (need 3 girls for a troop!). I haven't seen the new book yet but I have attended my first of two leader training meetings. It is a different program. Our girls like the traditional things too. My dd really wants to continue through GS but I wonder about the new program. I'm not to happy to hear others not liking what they're seeing. I was disappointed to see the patches/badges dropped to just a few. The trainer at our meeting said your troop has to fit the girls; mainly referring to a leader who said her troop has all the girls and their moms attend regularly. she said they enjoy it that way. Of course everyone else was taken aback - that's not teaching the girls to be independent leaders. She didn't say if the moms handle the meeting or the girls, but if it works for the girls and moms to all meet that should be a good thing not a bad thing. All the other leaders just couldn't even imagine such a troop, at least that was the impression they gave. Anyway, we shall see....I haven't seen another girls org that appeals to me unless someone has heard of something I haven't checked into...I grew up with Camp Fire Girls and enjoyed it but their program today doesn't appeal. We'll make it work or move on. Looking forward to any more input!

[chiguirre]

Uh-oh. I'm supposed to go to my first training next week. The school that hosts ds's Cub Pack just launched a GS Troop and I signed up as one of the Brownie leaders. All I've got is last year's Try-It book, the other moms are completely new. This doesn't bode well for making Brownies a fun activity for both the girls and the moms.

[My3Monkeys]

I am not impressed at all with the new badge books. They are nothing but fluff - graphics and giant bubbles with very little text. Do they think kids are so dumb today that they can't manage reading a paragraph or two without a bunch of pictures? I do like the new Daisy program with actual specific requirements for earning each petal, but the Junior book is so dumbed down it's crazy.

 

 

[oldskool]

I am not impressed at all with the new badge books. They are nothing but fluff - graphics and giant bubbles with very little text. Do they think kids are so dumb today that they can't manage reading a paragraph or two without a bunch of pictures? I do like the new Daisy program with actual specific requirements for earning each petal, but the Junior book is so dumbed down it's crazy.

 

 

 

I agree that they are a lot of fluff and surely aren't challenging. Worse is that there are not many to choose from and I believe that you can only do one badge a year that is of your own making.

 

Lesley

[NavyWifeandMommy]

Not thrilled with the new way GS is headed. I have been involved with GS since my now Cadette was a Daisy. We are just going to have to make the best of it. We were able to get some of the old badges and thegirls are going to work towards those as well. Unfortatally only 2 want to get the Silver, the others are there moslty for social reasons.

[elfgivas]

for the "breathe" journey book, we had the girls go thru each section and choose which things they wanted to focus on, and then we covered the other things more quickly.

 

they would often find one small sidebar thing and would spark days/weeks of discussion, ideas and actions. every girl knew at least one person and often more who have asthma and so the benefits to clean air were something they already knew about in a real and personal way.

 

several of the moms did see it as a "save the world one blade of grass at a time", but by giving the girls the lead, we quickly came to see it thru their eyes. they ended up doing a project where they produce a non-chemical window cleaner, made appointments at the mall to visit businesses and talk to them and ended up having several stores convert to the new cleaner. they left the recipe for making it with them. we know that at least one store still uses it instead of windex, etc.

 

the ambassador level was more about foods, and they had a riot.

 

if this fails us this year, then we'll do what we've done other years.... we find old girl scout badges and work towards them : ). and we do a lot of patch work, too.

 

fwiw,

ann

[Joyofsixreboot]

~sigh~. Our council doesn't even have the books yet:glare: our troop is made up of less than wealthy girls so we're probably going to buy one book for the troop. We've also decided to continue our fun activities and disregard the badges. Our girls aren't really motivated by them. My dd who has been a GS since K is thinking of joining Venturing next year when she turns 14 and gets in 8th grade.

[SeekingHim77]

We've never done girl scouts here until recently. My daughter read Bright April-a lovely story about a little girl who happens to be a girl scout. My daughter decided she wanted to be a girl scout too. So we went to a meeting.

 

Let's just say, I was far from impressed. It seemed more about "girl power" than anything else. It looked like a great oppertunity for children from less involved homes but it was so basic for my daughter IMO.

 

She had fun though and wants to go back. I'm trying to talk her into starting our own girl scoutish club instead. She really wants to get into the nature aspect of girl scouting and I don't see this troop doing much in that area.

[Alessandra]

$18!! They are crap. 13 badges in the Cadette Book. 3 of the 13 badges are about selling cookies. There are 5 badges for each of the 3 journeys but apparently you have to buy those separarely (and separately from the journeys themselves). I'm still trying to find out how to obtain those the information on those badges. There is a total of 28 badges that they can earn in 3 years.

 

The girls that were in the troop last year hated the AMAZE journey. I hated it as well. We did some serious adaptation to the point that the books were worthless and this year, I am not requiring them to buy one.

 

The new girls looked at the journeys and hate it. First words were boring. Nobody wants to do one. They have to do one for the silver award though and all want to earn silver. That is the main reason the girls are in Scouts is to earn the gold award for transcript purposes and do badges.

 

THey all want to do badges but none of their interests are reflected in the Cadette level badges. For example, they want to do a dance badge. However, dance badge is for Brownies. Performance category for cadettes is public speaking. You are only allowed to create ONE badge of your own each year.

 

I also think the requirements to earn a badge have been seriously dumbed down -epsecially compared to American Heritage Girls and Boy Scouts. There are 5 steps to earn the badge and it takes 8 pages to tell you what to do! It's so busy with all kinds of crap fluff. (Not very green if you ask me!)

 

I go to leader meetings and it's all "make the troop about the girls want to do" and "Girls scouts is all about the girls".

Then why do they have the dang-blasted books that EVERYBODY hates? Well, our troops girls and most girls that I know want to do lots of outdoor stuff, earn badges and do not want to do journeys. I agree, NO JOURNEYS.It seems to me that the Girls Scouts as an organization need to practice what they preach and be about what the girls want!

 

Have you actually seen any of the new books?

 

I agree with you 100%. The information on the separate badges you can do with the journey isn't even available yet. I hate everything about it.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

 

I agree about the badges. It was sooo disappointing to see how few there are to choose from and they are really watered down. The expense is crazy and the $18 price is just for this year. Next year they are going up to around $26 and there will be additional pieces added. I was told to expect the entire badge book to top at around $40. That is not including any of the journey books. I was embarrassed last week when having new members sign-up and telling them all of the things that they will have to pay for. I know that they have grants, but many people don't feel that they should be needing to apply for those. Not a great situation to be in as a leader.

 

Lesley

 

I had NO idea it would add up that much!

 

I agree with this. I am really disappointed in the Journeys and the new badges. We are a very hands-on troop. We choose to do very little reading/writing type things because most of my PS 4th graders do a ton of that at school and we want them to have as many hands-on experiences as possible. I also have one child with learning disabilities who is indistinguishable from the others EXCEPT for reading and writing, so this would be a terrible thing for her. SAME HERE. We are NOT doing them. Once we run out of the older badges, we might choose a totally new meting style, but I guarantee we are not doing expensive workbooks.

 

I need to be a GS leader, because no one else (except my co-leader) will do the job. We have a great bunch of girl, groups from Daisy on up, which meet at the same time as Boy & Cub Scouts. So many of the girls would just be waiting for their brothers if she were not in GS. But many are counting the days until they are ready for Venture Scouts.

 

It just about kills me to look at GS and BSA materials together. And every time ds does a mb, dd does most of the work too -- not just because it's fun and activity oriented, but because of the feeling that she is really learning & exploring new ideas.

 

And I simply CANNOT understand how any organization could launch a new program and NOT HAVE THE BOOKS. WHAT are they thinking?

Edited September 22, 2011 by Alessandra

[AuntPol]

Have you actually seen any of the new books?

 

 

 

Yes! I have the Cadette one. It's 36 pages of handbook. The handbook is full of wasted space and lots and lots of graphics.

Then there is 12 pages on how to get the silver (1-2 pages for the 8 steps)

 

Then there is a badge section. There is a fold out chart that lists all the badges for all levels. Then there are 13 badges. 3 about finances and 3 about cookies. The other 5 are Comic Artist, Good Sportsmanship, Finding Common Ground, New Cuisine, Cadette First Aid, Cadettes Girl Scout Way, and Trees

 

GSA has come up with categories for badges. For example

 

Artist: Brownies have painting, Juniors Have drawing,Cadettes have Comic Artist, Seniors have Collage, and Ambassaders have Photographer.

 

Not in this book but apparantly something that we will have to buy separately are 15 more badges that are grouped by five to fit each of the 3 journeys.

 

Again they are categoried. For Performance: Brownies have Dance, Juniors have Musicians, Cadettes have Public Speaker, and Seniors have Troupe Performer. There are no extra skill badges for Ambassadors.

 

Cadettes are only ones with three Cookie badges and financial literacy bages, all the rest of the levels have two of each so other levels only 9 badges in their books.

 

Sample badge: Sportsmanship

 

Page 1: Quote from a olympic swimmmer, overview of steps.

 

Page 2: Step 1. Create your own definition of sportsmanship. Choose 1: go to sports event and take notes OR watch a sports series or Head to the web and read 3 stories about good and bad sportsmanships,

 

**Then there is a big question that says do you think there's any difference between "sportsmanship" and "sportswomanship."

 

Page 3; 2 columns of white squares for girls to write 5 things to do and 5 things not to do for their personal definition.

 

Page 4: Step 2: Be a Good Competitor. Choose 1 a) Make illustrated quote book b) Talk to athletic director, coach, or player you admire 3) Read bio of a female athlete and write essay, poem, or song on why and how she's such a strong competitor. (side quote from Juliette low) but half page is empty.

 

Page 5: Step 3: Be a Good Team Mate: Choose 1) Play Trust, like they did on Survivor (yep it says Survivor -hint that they will have to change it again soon LOL). 2) Play 3 team building games suggested by games sports psychologist Colleen Hacker 3 ) PLay Capture the Flag

 

Pages 6-7: background of grass with 3 games that they can choose for step 3 -choice 2

 

Page 8: One more game that can be chosen for choice 2 of Step 3

 

Page 9; Step 4 Psych yourself Up: 1) Talk to an athlete who competes in a subjectively scored sport. 2) Find out more about visualization technique. 3) Play a sports psychology game (mmm isn't that what they did in step 3???)

 

Page 10: 6 Sports psychology tips.

 

Page 11: Step 5: Put your definition of good sportsmanship into action.

Choose 1) Compete or try a new sport 2) Play with little kids 3) Take on role of referee, umpire, or judge,

 

Tip: Now you've completed, "you'll have your tried and true definition. You might want to hang it in your locer or a personal space-you might find your insights helpful off the field too"

 

More to Explore: Write a Good Sportsmanship Contract for school or community sports program and get coaches and athletes to sign it.

 

List of careers to explore (no requirement though)

 

Page 12: Apply to journeys, 3 things you can do to give service, and place to write what you are inspired to do. (not required)

 

Then there is a section for your records.

 

You can make your own badge but allowed only ONE per year.

[NavyWifeandMommy]

Lucky you. I would love to have the Cadette Binder so we could plan a bit better. Right now we have the MEdia and Breathe Journey books and will use those this year. This way everyone gets their Journey done with out hopefully repeating Journey. Our Troop does Cadette and up while the other Troop does Juniors and down.

 

Yes! I have the Cadette one. It's 36 pages of handbook. The handbook is full of wasted space and lots and lots of graphics.

Then there is 12 pages on how to get the silver (1-2 pages for the 8 steps)

 

Then there is a badge section. There is a fold out chart that lists all the badges for all levels. Then there are 13 badges. 3 about finances and 3 about cookies. The other 5 are Comic Artist, Good Sportsmanship, Finding Common Ground, New Cuisine, Cadette First Aid, Cadettes Girl Scout Way, and Trees

 

GSA has come up with categories for badges. For example

 

Artist: Brownies have painting, Juniors Have drawing,Cadettes have Comic Artist, Seniors have Collage, and Ambassaders have Photographer.

 

Not in this book but apparantly something that we will have to buy separately are 15 more badges that are grouped by five to fit each of the 3 journeys.

 

Again they are categoried. For Performance: Brownies have Dance, Juniors have Musicians, Cadettes have Public Speaker, and Seniors have Troupe Performer. There are no extra skill badges for Ambassadors.

 

Cadettes are only ones with three Cookie badges and financial literacy bages, all the rest of the levels have two of each so other levels only 9 badges in their books.

 

Sample badge: Sportsmanship

 

Page 1: Quote from a olympic swimmmer, overview of steps.

 

Page 2: Step 1. Create your own definition of sportsmanship. Choose 1: go to sports event and take notes OR watch a sports series or Head to the web and read 3 stories about good and bad sportsmanships,

 

**Then there is a big question that says do you think there's any difference between "sportsmanship" and "sportswomanship."

 

Page 3; 2 columns of white squares for girls to write 5 things to do and 5 things not to do for their personal definition.

 

Page 4: Step 2: Be a Good Competitor. Choose 1 a) Make illustrated quote book b) Talk to athletic director, coach, or player you admire 3) Read bio of a female athlete and write essay, poem, or song on why and how she's such a strong competitor. (side quote from Juliette low) but half page is empty.

 

Page 5: Step 3: Be a Good Team Mate: Choose 1) Play Trust, like they did on Survivor (yep it says Survivor -hint that they will have to change it again soon LOL). 2) Play 3 team building games suggested by games sports psychologist Colleen Hacker 3 ) PLay Capture the Flag

 

Pages 6-7: background of grass with 3 games that they can choose for step 3 -choice 2

 

Page 8: One more game that can be chosen for choice 2 of Step 3

 

Page 9; Step 4 Psych yourself Up: 1) Talk to an athlete who competes in a subjectively scored sport. 2) Find out more about visualization technique. 3) Play a sports psychology game (mmm isn't that what they did in step 3???)

 

Page 10: 6 Sports psychology tips.

 

Page 11: Step 5: Put your definition of good sportsmanship into action.

Choose 1) Compete or try a new sport 2) Play with little kids 3) Take on role of referee, umpire, or judge,

 

Tip: Now you've completed, "you'll have your tried and true definition. You might want to hang it in your locer or a personal space-you might find your insights helpful off the field too"

 

More to Explore: Write a Good Sportsmanship Contract for school or community sports program and get coaches and athletes to sign it.

 

List of careers to explore (no requirement though)

 

Page 12: Apply to journeys, 3 things you can do to give service, and place to write what you are inspired to do. (not required)

 

Then there is a section for your records.

 

You can make your own badge but allowed only ONE per year.

[micheller1]

my youngest daughter is a junior girl scout this year and I'm so disappointed with the whole organization.

She has a new leader this year who must also believe she is a drill sargeant :( I wish there was another girl empowering organization that my daughter could be involved in. All of her friends quit this year because they just didn't like being involved in it.

[My3Monkeys]

Yes! I have the Cadette one. It's 36 pages of handbook. The handbook is full of wasted space and lots and lots of graphics.

Then there is 12 pages on how to get the silver (1-2 pages for the 8 steps)

 

You should have seen me ranting to dh the other day about the new program. I had out the new Junior binder and the old junior books. I showed him the old Junior handbook (an actual BOOK) and then the new "handbook" section of the binder. There's nothing to it to start with, but once you remove the bronze award (that used to be a separate handout) and things that are related to the journeys / other things you can buy, it really only can be called a booklet. Ick.

[kwickimom]

Me and my junior girls aren't doing it :) I am buying up the old badges that we want to do and I am doing those. For as long as we can thats how we are rolling. It helps that no one wants to be a leader, so they basically leave my troop alone because no one else wants to do it. I fear this is our last year though.

[Punchie]

I have the new Daisy guide and all 3 journeys. It is definitely heavy on the graphics and pc, feel-good stuff. I don’t like that you have to read a story for each and everything you want to do. But, it does have potential to be tweaked into more outdoorsy-type stuff. I agree w/a pp about how it seems more like school than scouting.

I’m not going to have the girls buy the guides for the journeys. It seems like a waste. That and the woman at the council who’s been helping me said she made photocopies of the pages that the girls needed. For the actual guide, it doesn’t seem necessary for each Daisy to have her own guide. I figure I can copy or scan/email any pertinent page.

That being said, does anyone know how I could get my hands on the age-appropriate badge/guide books for either BSA or AHG? I would like to have them for comparison. My mom should still have my Junior and Cadette badge books, but there were no Daisies when I was little, and I don’t think we have my old Try-Its book anymore.

[unsinkable]

I have the new Daisy guide and all 3 journeys. It is definitely heavy on the graphics and pc, feel-good stuff. I don’t like that you have to read a story for each and everything you want to do. But, it does have potential to be tweaked into more outdoorsy-type stuff. I agree w/a pp about how it seems more like school than scouting.

I’m not going to have the girls buy the guides for the journeys. It seems like a waste. That and the woman at the council who’s been helping me said she made photocopies of the pages that the girls needed. For the actual guide, it doesn’t seem necessary for each Daisy to have her own guide. I figure I can copy or scan/email any pertinent page.

That being said, does anyone know how I could get my hands on the age-appropriate badge/guide books for either BSA or AHG? I would like to have them for comparison. My mom should still have my Junior and Cadette badge books, but there were no Daisies when I was little, and I don’t think we have my old Try-Its book anymore.

 

There are some old Daisy books (fr. 2000) and leaders' guides on amazon. They start at about $2

[Kari C in SC]

I am a bit out of the loop as I have stopped being a leader this year. Can you not still use the old books? That is what we did when Journeys came out. I just didn't like it, so I kept with the older one. They still sold the badges for them.

[AmyTompkins]

Sorry to hear that! With 2 step-daughters I found out the hard way that Girl Scouts is a racket! :( I have 3 boys in Boy Scouts and that organization, while flawed, really teaches some amazing and important skills. Girl Scouts not so much and everything costs more $!

[2_girls_mommy]

WE got our binders this week. I was happy at least to finally know what to do this year. We have been waiting all summer not knowing what the new stuff was going to look like!

 

We were shocked when we found out you have to buy extra pages to see all of the requirements for the badges. But even in the book as it comes, there is plenty to do. There is the Bronze, the junior aide, and all of those on top of the few badges it gives. Doing a journey (to work towards the bronze award) says it should take 3-4 mos. Then if we start planning the bronze and doing the junior aide, that should be pretty much the whole year for our juniors. We already did a council wide camp that did provide a lot of cool hands on skills like archery, knot tieing, ropes course, etc. We have several field trips planned for the whole troop (mixed ages: daisy through ambassador) that we take along with the cub scout troop that meets at the same time.

 

So I think we have plenty to make a year out of it. We work on outdoor skills when we do a camping trip. And as others said, a lot of the girls are just there to socialize. So we make sure to have sleepovers and crafts and fun stuff.

 

I think we can make it work, now that we finally have the books. I was getting really stressed without them.

 

I do think that not everyone should have to buy one though. The council told us that was the big change. Everyone would have to have a book. Now that I have one (and that we made everyone buy one) I see that we could have made do with one of each for the leader like we have always done. Live and learn!

[Alessandra]

Yes! I have the Cadette one. It's 36 pages of handbook. The handbook is full of wasted space and lots and lots of graphics.

Then there is 12 pages on how to get the silver (1-2 pages for the 8 steps)

 

Then there is a badge section. There is a fold out chart that lists all the badges for all levels. Then there are 13 badges. 3 about finances and 3 about cookies. The other 5 are Comic Artist, Good Sportsmanship, Finding Common Ground, New Cuisine, Cadette First Aid, Cadettes Girl Scout Way, and Trees

 

These are the books that cost $17... not a lot there.

 

GSA has come up with categories for badges. For example

 

Artist: Brownies have painting, Juniors Have drawing,Cadettes have Comic Artist, Seniors have Collage, and Ambassaders have Photographer.

 

Not in this book but apparantly something that we will have to buy separately are 15 more badges that are grouped by five to fit each of the 3 journeys.

 

Again they are categoried. For Performance: Brownies have Dance, Juniors have Musicians, Cadettes have Public Speaker, and Seniors have Troupe Performer. There are no extra skill badges for Ambassadors.

 

So, a girl is just out of luck is she likes dance or drawing at the "wrong" age, I guess.

 

Cadettes are only ones with three Cookie badges and financial literacy bages, all the rest of the levels have two of each so other levels only 9 badges in their books.

 

Sample badge: Sportsmanship

 

Page 1: Quote from a olympic swimmmer, overview of steps.

 

Page 2: Step 1. Create your own definition of sportsmanship. Choose 1: go to sports event and take notes OR watch a sports series or Head to the web and read 3 stories about good and bad sportsmanships,

 

**Then there is a big question that says do you think there's any difference between "sportsmanship" and "sportswomanship."

 

Page 3; 2 columns of white squares for girls to write 5 things to do and 5 things not to do for their personal definition.

 

Page 4: Step 2: Be a Good Competitor. Choose 1 a) Make illustrated quote book b) Talk to athletic director, coach, or player you admire 3) Read bio of a female athlete and write essay, poem, or song on why and how she's such a strong competitor. (side quote from Juliette low) but half page is empty.

 

Page 5: Step 3: Be a Good Team Mate: Choose 1) Play Trust, like they did on Survivor (yep it says Survivor -hint that they will have to change it again soon LOL). 2) Play 3 team building games suggested by games sports psychologist Colleen Hacker 3 ) PLay Capture the Flag

 

Pages 6-7: background of grass with 3 games that they can choose for step 3 -choice 2

 

Page 8: One more game that can be chosen for choice 2 of Step 3

 

Page 9; Step 4 Psych yourself Up: 1) Talk to an athlete who competes in a subjectively scored sport. 2) Find out more about visualization technique. 3) Play a sports psychology game (mmm isn't that what they did in step 3???)

 

Page 10: 6 Sports psychology tips.

 

Page 11: Step 5: Put your definition of good sportsmanship into action.

Choose 1) Compete or try a new sport 2) Play with little kids 3) Take on role of referee, umpire, or judge,

 

Tip: Now you've completed, "you'll have your tried and true definition. You might want to hang it in your locer or a personal space-you might find your insights helpful off the field too"

 

More to Explore: Write a Good Sportsmanship Contract for school or community sports program and get coaches and athletes to sign it.

 

It sounds as though a girl could do most of sportsmanship while sitting in a recliner -- why not have girls practice sportsmanship while actually playing a sport?

 

List of careers to explore (no requirement though)

 

Page 12: Apply to journeys, 3 things you can do to give service, and place to write what you are inspired to do. (not required)

 

Then there is a section for your records.

 

You can make your own badge but allowed only ONE per year.

 

Oh, this is just plain awful!!

:angry::angry::angry::angry::angry::angry::angry:

[oldskool]

I am a bit out of the loop as I have stopped being a leader this year. Can you not still use the old books? That is what we did when Journeys came out. I just didn't like it, so I kept with the older one. They still sold the badges for them.

 

 

No, they don't want you using the old books. It was made clear that you must switch over. They have also gotten rid of all the badges from those books at our GS store. Not sure if they can be bought online.

 

Lesley

[arghmatey]

Thank you for posting this. I've been trying to make a decision, and this post has helped me.

[oldskool]

I do think that not everyone should have to buy one though. The council told us that was the big change. Everyone would have to have a book. Now that I have one (and that we made everyone buy one) I see that we could have made do with one of each for the leader like we have always done. Live and learn!

 

I agree. It seems excessive to require everybody to buy one, especially b/c of the expense.

 

Lesley

[Jeanine in TX]

I haven't read all of the comments; but I actually like the new badge books.

 

My local council has them available for preview. The requirements are so much simpler. They are challenging without being too time-consuming. I speak as a mom and age group leader for Cadettes and Seniors. I really did not like the old Interest Project book. It took forever to earn a badge and some of the requirements were not even age appropriate.

 

If you are a mom of a Brownie or Junior, I can see how you may not care for the new badge book. The old books for those levels were well laid out. Yet, it was certainly time to get rid of the Cadette/Senior Interest Project book.

 

I hope that GSUSA revamps the journey books. The layout is VERY cluttered and the program does not seem very straight forward. Thankfully my daughter only has to do one journey as a pre-requisite for the Gold Award. The Silver and Bronze Awards are already done.

[AuntPol]

I haven't read all of the comments; but I actually like the new badge books.

 

My local council has them available for preview. The requirements are so much simpler. They are challenging without being too time-consuming. I speak as a mom and age group leader for Cadettes and Seniors. I really did not like the old Interest Project book. It took forever to earn a badge and some of the requirements were not even age appropriate.

 

 

 

I agree that the old Interest Project book was quite horrid. It was okay for high schoolers but not very age appropriate for Cadettes -especially the 6th graders. Another problem was that they tried to come up with categories and really stretched for some of them, that I was scratching my head on what the heck was the point.

 

However, these new ones are so simple that they can be easily done in a meeting or two so there is no real investment like there is for Boy Scouts. I hear girls complain over and over and over that the Gold Award does not carry the same prestige as the Eagle Award and try to blame it on sexism. No, it's not sexism. There is not near amount of work that goes into it.

[Guest VanessaFas]

I wish they only charged me like $8, and for the inside pages. They still want an add'l $12 ($4 x 3 sets) for the 6 skill-building badges for each Journey. My head hurts. And all the badges feel dumbed down, and no longer required career exploration, use of technology, or community service...for J/C/S/A. I understand they are trying to make things easier and open Scouting to more people, but come on! These books are like teachers' editions, the ones that teachers who don't know their subject are inclined to look at instead of teaching. I'm very disappointed, and I will continue using the old books thru June 2012, which I was told was okay. And my troop will make the community service portion of every badge mandatory.

[Rhonda in TX]

I don't understand why Girl Scouts keep changing the program. Boy/Cub Scouts have basically had the same program forever and they are very successful. I wanted to DD to stay in Girl Scouts all the way through to the Gold Award, but the program was just too difficult to figure out and our troop was not interested in the awards at all. Our troop finally dissolved and we're done. :(

[Guest 2girls4mom]

After waiting until after Christmas to FINALLY get my new Junior handbooks for our troop I was really let down with badge selection, variety of experiences and the books itself.

 

1. Badges. The LEGACY badges are a joke. Since when is camping not in the Girl Scout legacy? But a flowers badge makes it in as a legacy? Really? Sure, there is a camping badge but you have to get the information in a Journey badge packet that you have to pay extra for.

 

2. Experiences- Sure, do a badge on cookie sales...but 3? Most of the badges have the girls going out and interviewing or talking to someone...seems a bit much for me. No outdoorsy stuff. Not in the main book...you can Geocashe but that is a different Journey packet.

Journeys= the girls don't like them much. They take up your whole troop meeting and badges become difficult. (A cadette troop in part of the woods puts on day-long Journey workshops. For $25 and an all day Saturday, you walk out the door with your patch!!)

 

3. The book itself...exactly what size is that? It is huge! Seriously, can a Daisy or a Brownie get that book into their backpack? For older girls, it would fit since the pack is a bit bigger but their school books will it fit?

 

I think the Girl Scouts REALLLLLY missed the boat with this whole launch. Printing deficit, lousy badges, costly add-ons to the book, the size itself.

 

I will pursue other council badges from around the country for my troop. i will leave you with what our Service Unit Manager said- Listen the guidelines for the badges are just that. If you do 3 of the 5 steps and YOU feel the girls learned what they needed to to earn the badge then you are done. In addition, for the make your own...make as many as you want.

[Shellydon]

After waiting until after Christmas to FINALLY get my new Junior handbooks for our troop I was really let down with badge selection, variety of experiences and the books itself.

 

1. Badges. The LEGACY badges are a joke. Since when is camping not in the Girl Scout legacy? But a flowers badge makes it in as a legacy? Really? Sure, there is a camping badge but you have to get the information in a Journey badge packet that you have to pay extra for.

 

2. Experiences- Sure, do a badge on cookie sales...but 3? Most of the badges have the girls going out and interviewing or talking to someone...seems a bit much for me. No outdoorsy stuff. Not in the main book...you can Geocashe but that is a different Journey packet.

Journeys= the girls don't like them much. They take up your whole troop meeting and badges become difficult. (A cadette troop in part of the woods puts on day-long Journey workshops. For $25 and an all day Saturday, you walk out the door with your patch!!)

 

3. The book itself...exactly what size is that? It is huge! Seriously, can a Daisy or a Brownie get that book into their backpack? For older girls, it would fit since the pack is a bit bigger but their school books will it fit?

 

I think the Girl Scouts REALLLLLY missed the boat with this whole launch. Printing deficit, lousy badges, costly add-ons to the book, the size itself.

 

I will pursue other council badges from around the country for my troop. i will leave you with what our Service Unit Manager said- Listen the guidelines for the badges are just that. If you do 3 of the 5 steps and YOU feel the girls learned what they needed to to earn the badge then you are done. In addition, for the make your own...make as many as you want.

 

The bolded helps. I thought the make your own was only one though. Hmm... I HATE the changes. So much that we are through after this year.

[Shellydon]

After waiting until after Christmas to FINALLY get my new Junior handbooks for our troop I was really let down with badge selection, variety of experiences and the books itself.

 

1. Badges. The LEGACY badges are a joke. Since when is camping not in the Girl Scout legacy? But a flowers badge makes it in as a legacy? Really? Sure, there is a camping badge but you have to get the information in a Journey badge packet that you have to pay extra for.

 

2. Experiences- Sure, do a badge on cookie sales...but 3? Most of the badges have the girls going out and interviewing or talking to someone...seems a bit much for me. No outdoorsy stuff. Not in the main book...you can Geocashe but that is a different Journey packet.

Journeys= the girls don't like them much. They take up your whole troop meeting and badges become difficult. (A cadette troop in part of the woods puts on day-long Journey workshops. For $25 and an all day Saturday, you walk out the door with your patch!!)

 

3. The book itself...exactly what size is that? It is huge! Seriously, can a Daisy or a Brownie get that book into their backpack? For older girls, it would fit since the pack is a bit bigger but their school books will it fit?

 

I think the Girl Scouts REALLLLLY missed the boat with this whole launch. Printing deficit, lousy badges, costly add-ons to the book, the size itself.

 

I will pursue other council badges from around the country for my troop. i will leave you with what our Service Unit Manager said- Listen the guidelines for the badges are just that. If you do 3 of the 5 steps and YOU feel the girls learned what they needed to to earn the badge then you are done. In addition, for the make your own...make as many as you want.

 

 

A quick question - how do you pursue council badges?

[In The Great White North]

A quick question - how do you pursue council badges?

 

Google "Council's Own"

[TravelingChris]

My girls quit Girl Scouts a few years ago (four, I think). They weren't getting badges done and it seemed to be mostly about cookies. That was very different when they started which would have been in the early 2000. There they were learning things and actually working for badges. It gradually got worse and more useless. Then first the older girl joined Explorer and then last year, both girls joined Ventures. Now just the younger one is a Venture Scout because the older one is in college. But she likes it and is learning new things.

 

I am very sad how GS has turned out. I was a GS and got my first class badge. I used to own a badge book from the fifties and saw how much more they did back then. It has gradually been dumbed down. On the other hand, Boy Scouts has kept up the standards. I was much happier with my son's Boy Scout experience and of course, my daughters associations with BSA too. I don't know what they will do if they have daughters.