Does Scouting count for some credit?

[JadeOrchidSong]

My boys started scouting at age 6 and have been introduced to and learned many things they would not have learned without it. They meet 90 minutes every week during the school year and do multiple camp outs including two or three during winter.

Since they spend so much time on it and do it long term, will this qualify for 1/2 or 1/4 credit for something a year? If yes, what category should it be?

[Mike in SA]

Maybe as a PE credit if sufficient hours are spent in physical activity. I wouldn't call it "scouting" if the kids plan on college - that might sully what most colleges consider an excellent extracurricular.

[justasque]

I would simply consider it an extracurricular. For my ds, we made sure to fit his scouting activities somewhere on every college application, so they were well aware of the extent of it, as well as the rank he achieved. Because there's not always a large enough space to go into details, we created a resume with the Scouting activities as well as other activities (volunteer, employment, extracurrics, honors & awards, etc.) and uploaded it in the Common Application.

[regentrude]

It makes a good extracurricular and can stand out more there than merged into a for-credit-subject on the transcript.

[Arcadia]

Scouts fall under extracurricular (ECA) for B&M high schoolers. PE credit is counted differently and exemptions on a case by case basis are given to competitive athletes (school/state/national team) or marching band members who have daily training.

 

90mins per week for an ECA is really not much. Are they working towards Eagle Scout?

[Julie of KY]

I'd count scouting as an extracurricular. I might double dip just a little in that what is learned for a first aid merit badge may cross over with curriculum for health, etc. I would NOT count life skills learned through scouting toward anything on the transcript.

 

Everyone in public school only counts scouting as extracurricular - I think it would look suspicious if you do anything else.

[Mike in SA]

Scouts fall under extracurricular (ECA) for B&M high schoolers. PE credit is counted differently and exemptions on a case by case basis are given to competitive athletes (school/state/national team) or marching band members who have daily training.

 

90mins per week for an ECA is really not much. Are they working towards Eagle Scout?

Agree - sufficient hours will probably be an unreachable threshold. Here, alternative PE requires 15+ hours per week in preparation for national level competition!

[bugs]

Agreeing that it is considered extra-credit for high school.  That said, when my son was in middle school, I crafted a "life sciences" class that included a couple of merit badge requirements because they were appropriate.  He earned the Insect Study MB that year.

[theelfqueen]

It's unquestionably extracurricular.

 

But... I definitely integrate relevant merit badge books into curriculum (ie. we'll finish personal management at the same time he's taking Personal Finance in our Economics class) but we did the same thing with other MBs when he was in public school -- ie. worked on music during Marching Band season, robotics while he was working on robotics in class/on the robotics team.

 

I'm tempted to call Philmont and all Philmont prep a 'backpacking' PE credit. We don't have a specific PE requirement in our state for homeschoolers and if he had remained in PS he would have already knocked it out (1/2 credit PE requirement for PS graduation) via Marching Band (but we pulled him out mid-semester -but at the end of Marching season). 

 

[scoutingmom]

I agree to it being extra-curricular, but using some of the badges as a part of other courses.

 

That said, I think that some provinces in Canada will grant credits for scouts that earn their Chief Scout and/or Queen's Venturer Awards....

 

it wasn't something I'd looked at when I was a student in Air Cadets years ago (there was credits for various ranks, so similar) as I had way more credits than needed already. It was the same with my friends. Kids doing these things didn't need the extra credits.

 

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[Alessandra]

Agreeing with the others, scouting is extra curricular, not credit.

 

But do include years in scouting, rank achieved, etc. check out BSA's National Outdoor awards, if you have not done so already. The camping nights may qualify your child for an award, which you could include on applications.

 

http://usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/outdoor-badges.asp#camping

Edited February 15, 2016 by Alessandra

[Julie in MN]

But... I definitely integrate relevant merit badge books into curriculum (ie. we'll finish personal management at the same time he's taking Personal Finance in our Economics class) but we did the same thing with other MBs when he was in public school -- ie. worked on music during Marching Band season, robotics while he was working on robotics in class/on the robotics team.

 

 

I agree that there can be some crossover.  My dd had a lot of camp counseling experience and so no need to duplicate some of those skills and experiences if I required them for certain credits.

 

Also, if Eagle Scout is a possibility, that looks really good as an extra on a transcript, so I'd keep that separate.  There are also potential college scholarships for Eagle Scouts and other awards that could add to a good application package.  For instance, http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/scholarships.aspx  (Some of the girls in my troop earned silver or gold awards in Girl Scouting, and most scholarships are now treating those equally.)

 

Julie

 

[SilverMoon]

Agreed. Solidly extracurricular. Same with Civil Air Patrol, JROTC, and such. They give a better picture of that particular kid in the extracurriculars anyway.