?? Joining GS

[MaeFlowers]

I have been looking through the GS locator system for a troop to join. There are a quite a few in my area but I have some questions.

1. Many of the troops are K-1 only while others are K-5 or K-11. I am assuming the ones that are K-5 or more are more established troops. Would it be better to look into joining these troops?

2.  Most of the troops hold bi-weekly meetings or monthly meetings. Is this the norm? 

3. What else should I look for when joining? 

I'm just lost in this process. Any advice is welcome.

[vonfirmath]

Good luck. I'd just jump into one that meets at a time and place you can and see if the troop has room. You may be forced into a particular troop just because its the only one accepting new members.

[MaeFlowers]

Do the stores need to be local? There is a School Box in the next town over but the closest GS store is 20 miles away.  I don't know how much they will know about my area.

[mamaraby]

25 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I have never signed up online so I am not sure how that system is set up.  That seems like a strange way to list the grades.  Most troops are not that widely mixed in my experience.  I have seen troops that are like brownies and juniors, or some that might be juniors and cadettes but I don’t know that I have seen any that include everyone from daisies to seniors.  It is likely that troops with older girls are more established just because the girls have likely been doing scouts since brownies.  

Here mixed age troops are not uncommon. My dds are in the same troop and their goes from Brownies to Cadettes. There’s another troop that’s disbanding and are looking to join ours. Theirs was a much smaller troop, but also a mixed level troop. Our troop used to all be under the same troop number until Council made us split each level off into their own troop number. I’m not sure how we’re listed online.

@MaeFlowers - I tried signing up online at first, but it first took forever and then the troop we were assigned to was new, did not communicate in any helpful manner, and then met at times we could not make. We gave up for a year until my dh saw a troop meeting at a place we were at for another event, and went and introduced himself to the troop leader. That’s the troop we ended up joining.

If I were you, I’d contact the troop that is most convenient for you. You don’t have to join that troop, but you should be able to get a feel for how organized the troop leader is based upon how responsive the troop leader is. If she’s flaky or terrrible at getting back to you, then move on to the next one. I’d see if your daughter could visit a meeting so you can see how it’s run and if she’s interested in continuing.

[Caroline]

My troop is well-established (8 years) but we only have seventh grade girls. I don’t think that is an indication of how well established a troop is. 

We don’t have multi-age troops in our area. 

[MaeFlowers]

The School Box is listed in their stores. I think they just carry things for GS. I haven't been but hope to go either tomorrow or sometime next week.

I under the Atlanta Area Council. The troops that say K-5 or K-11 are in rural areas close to the Alabama border. Not much population density.

There are two Daisy troops relatively close to me. Both about 12 miles in the same direction but in a different county. I'm really suprised there isn't one in my town. 

I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to try and start one here.

Edit: Maybe there is one and it's full. The online listings are for troops with openings.

[mamaraby]

35 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

That’s so interesting.  Do you think having such a mix works well for the girls?  Do they all work on the same things as their ability level allows?  Or do the different groups hold like their own meetings within the meetings?  The idea of like 2nd graders and 8th graders in the same troop is really an interesting one to me.  I imagine it would give the younger girls a better chance to see the cool stuff the older ones get to do and encourage them to stick with it. 

Depends on the meeting. If they’re working on their Journeys then obviously it’s a meeting within a meeting. Same goes for cookie specific badges. We all got together to work on cookie badges, but each level worked on their own. Likewise, each level set their own cookie sales goals, but there was a sales goal for the group as a whole. World Thinking Day they worked on together. They did another badge (or maybe it was a pin?) together the last meeting. Sometimes the younger girls show up the older girls so it can inspire the older girls not to be outdone by the younger girls’ Take Action Project.

For field trips and the like, often they go together, but sometimes it’s just available to the Brownies or just the Cadettes. As they get further up, the projects take more time so the Cadettes meeting goes a bit later. There’s also a group that gets together before the meeting to work on Bronze/Silver awards and while they’re working on it in the same building and at the same time, they’re obviously working at different levels.

I can’t say what the older girls think because I have a Junior and a Brownie, but I know the younger girls seem to appreciate it. In our case, I think it started out at one level and then the little sisters of some of the older girls were old enough for GS so she added on the younger troop and so forth. I know when the Daisies became Brownies at the beginning of this year, she did not accept any scouts to the troop younger than Brownies.