Information, Observation, and Inspiration for Scouters
OK, the big day is approaching and you’re hoping your Blue & Gold Banquet turns out all right. You’re concerned that the boys will have fun and the parents won’t be disappointed.
The good news is that by following the Scout motto – Be Prepared – you can improve your chances of having a smooth banquet with enthusiastic boys and impressed parents.
First, be sure to review the steps I discussed last week. Continue reading “Surviving your First Blue & Gold Banquet: Final preparations”
If there is one event in the Cub Scout year that could be considered the high point, it’s the Blue and Gold Banquet. Every winter, Cub Scout packs hold a celebration of Scouting’s anniversary. Scouts gather, along with their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for food, fellowship, recognition, entertainment and Scout spirit.
And the Master of Ceremonies is you – the Cubmaster.
If you’re a new Cubmaster, you might be wondering just what you’ve gotten yourself into! Continue reading “Surviving Your First Blue & Gold Banquet: Planning”
The cog that turns the wheels of Boy Scouting is the patrol method, and the grease that lubes the axle is something nebulously called patrol spirit.
Just what is patrol spirit? It’s the sense of friendship and cooperation that exists between members of a patrol. It’s the competitive nature and persistence that propels a patrol toward higher performance in fun, adventure, service and advancement (and winning those games of Capture the Flag).
Troops that don’t have standing patrols, where Scouts belong to – and do everything as – a patrol, are missing out on the major attraction of Scouting. Continue reading “Where does patrol spirit start?”
If you’re a den leader, you realize that successful den meetings are planned in advance and have a variety of activities for the boys. The new Adventure program puts everything together so you don’t have to try to figure out for yourself how to run your den meetings. The goal is engagement, with advancement as the most visible byproduct.
The November/December 2015 issue of Scouting Magazine has a great article describing steps to planning better den meetings. In the article, Webelos leader David Kampa describes five big ideas for not only making meetings more fun for the boys but easier for you to plan. Continue reading “More ideas for den meeting planning”
If you have ever ta
ken an online course, you know how cumbersome they can be. Usually it just involves watching some video clips, or reading text (sometimes with pictures) and possibly taking a quiz. At best, it’s a one-way introduction to a topic; at worst, it’s a nightmare that never seems to end, as the progress bar slowly moves along.
The Boy Scouts of America has tried to fix some of this with the rollout of the new online training system. Continue reading “ScoutingU: The new look of online training”