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The Bloggers
An Hour a Week... left over after Scouting
- Active 2012–2019
- Posts 75
- Words 3,184
Original site: houraweek.wordpress.com (opens in a new tab) ↗
Reflections on Scouting, patrol leader training and reblogged favourites.
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Showing 1–50 of 75 · page 1 of 2. Each title opens the post in a new tab.
Learn It Young. Remember It Forever (opens in a new tab)
I think that BSA should license and use this for their advertisements.
Basic Training Documents (opens in a new tab)
In this month's Boy Scout Breakout at the Tuscarora District Roundtable, we talked about Basic Training. Of course you have to take the online training, the Scoutmaster Specific and the Intro to Outdoor Leadership, and all of that is good for a general overview of the program, but what do you need to actually do?
Patrol Dads (opens in a new tab)
If you are like me, you've probably been chomping at the bit to see the new Troop Leader's Guidebook that is supposed to replace the Scoutmaster's Handbook. There are so many things that you come across as a Scoutmaster and the 9th edition of the SM Handbook, really falls short. (The most useful edition, for
Scoutmaster WRIGHT – LEFT / RIGHT Christmas Game (opens in a new tab)
Every December we do our end of year Court of Honor / Christmas party and our Scouts play the LEFT / RIGHT game. I'm usually the narrator and I Google search for a story, looking for one with a Scout context. This year I just made one up. Hope it's useful for someone else, we
Plan to Eagle – 4 years (opens in a new tab)
I met an Eagle Scout this summer at camp that just turned 18 and had joined scouts at the age of 16. I always knew you could earn Eagle that quickly, but never met anyone that had. As a matter of fact, most stories that I heard were always of 12 or 13 year old
Are you able to "Do Your Best"? (opens in a new tab)
Marcus Buckingham spoke at the World Leaders Conference about how we are better at what we do if we can answer these three questions in the positive: 1. At work do I have a chance to do what I do best everyday? 2. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 3. Are
Learn More Efficiently by Planning to Teach What You're Studying (opens in a new tab)
Isn't this what we teach our scouts? Learn it to get to First Class, but you won't really master skills until you are able to teach it… glad the scientific community is catching up! :-) Learning is all about retaining knowledge so it can be accessed later on. You can only teach something when you've retained
Prepared for Life – By helping others, will Scouts ever find personal success? (opens in a new tab)
Adam Grant, in his book "Give and Take" identifies people in three classifications: Givers, Takers and Matchers (or people who carefully balance their Givings with Takings so that everything comes out fair.) In his studies of Medical Students, Salespeople and Engineers, he found that in all three careers that the category of people who consistently
Prepared For Life – Scouting Habits (opens in a new tab)
A few weeks ago I went to an awesome conference on Servant Leadership for work. Often I go to these things and think that I'm hearing the same thing dressed up differently, but there was something unique here. As I often do, I came home and was talking to my kids about the conference and
Eagle Service Project Coach (opens in a new tab)
This powerpoint was posted to the web last month on Scouting.org and it describes, in pretty thorough detail, what a Eagle Scout Service Project Coach should be. While, I suppose this should have been self evident with a cursory reading of the Guide to Advancement 2013, I guess I just glossed over it and assumed
Navigating the Eagle Project: Info for Beneficiaries (opens in a new tab)
I stumbled across this today, don't know that it has ever been brought to my attention before: Navigating the Eagle Scout Service Project Information for Project Beneficiaries . It's a pretty useful looking letter that your Life Scouts can hand to the Beneficiary as they are wrapping up their Proposal approval.
Scouting Ministry (opens in a new tab)
I recently attended an online webinar called "Baptist Scouting Ministry: Growing & Retaining Membership in Baptist Churches" that was hosted by P.R.A.Y. (Programs of Religious Activities with Youth) and conducted by R. Chip Turner. PRAY is the organization that is responsible for much of the Catholic / Protestant / Jewish curriculum that is recognized by
Scout Wars (opens in a new tab)
Last year our troop was trying to sell popcorn outside Wal-Mart at one entrance while Girl Scouts were selling trail mix or whatever at the other entrance”¦ this video is almost exactly what happened, word for word”¦ (Maybe I'm exaggerating, a little.)
Thanksgiving Campout Menu (opens in a new tab)
Our campout last weekend featured a Thanksgiving Feast in which everyone contributed and ate together. This was a front country campout, where we had access to dutch ovens and the trailer. Just wanted to share the menu: Tossed Salad – From a bag mix bought at the store. Grated cheese was available along with Fritos
Reprinted from Boy's Life Magazine (opens in a new tab)
These are pretty neat. Looks like Boy's Life compiled features and articles back around the early 70′s and 80′s to cover the Skill Awards that used to be a part of Scouts. I found these on scouts.lamb-thielen.com, which has a ton of traditional scouting resources, although you might find that a lot of the links
Cooking Requirements (opens in a new tab)
Our troop is planning a November Campout around the theme of "Cooking". The dinner meal will be a Thanksgiving type meal where the Patrols will be providing dishes, etc. The Scoutmasters Corps will be providing the Turkey via a Propane Turkey fryer. As the theme was cooking, I went through all of the ranks and
Boy Led Training # 6 – Servant Leadership (opens in a new tab)
I haven't posted to this series in a while, but have been reminded a lot lately about the "Why" of Boy Scouts… to build leaders. I often find myself caught up focusing on the "How". I like these lessons because they give us a glimpse behind the curtain, about why we do all of this.
Top Shot Competition (opens in a new tab)
Our last outing was just for the day rather than a weekend event. Our scouts elected to hold a "Top Shot" Competition within the troop. They competed in 4 different categories: .22 Rifles, Tomahawks, Archery and Sling Shot. The .22 competition was pretty typical based on a paper target point system. Our NRA Range Safety
Flag Folding (opens in a new tab)
We just had a Court of Honor and the Scouts played a few games against the adult volunteers and parents. We've been working on a back to the basics theme and have been focusing on basic scout skills, so the games were lighting a fire with flint and steel, a lashing game and a flag
Scoutmaster Specific Training (opens in a new tab)
Last month I conducted Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Training for our District. Well, ostensibly it was for the District, but for whatever reason, only volunteers from our Troop came to be trained. This training, if you haven't gone through it yet, is pretty straight forward. I've taught it a few times and have just
Be Prepared: How to Light a Wet Match (opens in a new tab)
I just ordered and received a book from the UK Scouting Association called Be Prepared: How to Light a Wet Match and 199 Other Useful Things to Know. It's a bit of a novelty, not exactly helpful”¦ more interesting. First, it's geared for UK Scouts, so the language is a little different. Also, there are
The Spirit of the Scoutmaster (opens in a new tab)
The Spirit of Scouting and the Spirit of the Scoutmaster The Spirit of the Scout Master must be the spirit of Scouting itself. There is hardly any use of a Scout Master trying to teach the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law, if he is not living them himself. The spirit of the
Oaths, Creeds and Codes (opens in a new tab)
A couple of our scouts last year went to their Eagle Board of Review and were asked if they could recite the Outdoor Code. They couldn't. At first I was kind of perplexed on why it was even brought up, but when I reread the Scout Handbook, I found that every Scout, upon joining agrees
What Scouting is Not (opens in a new tab)
What Scouting is Not Experience in different fields shows that there are certain shoals to be avoided in launching Scouting, lest it get stranded in commercialism or diverted into dead-end channels that never lead to the open sea. Here, then, …
Shoot! Program Ideas (opens in a new tab)
Our troop elections were last week and PLC was last night with the new cadre. Our calendar is pretty set with themes and campouts, so the new leadership is pretty informed and prepared. Our next 3 months' theme is shooting, …
Monkeying Around (opens in a new tab)
Just a quick post touting one of the best canoe / kayak day trips I've been on. For a shakedown trip for our Suwannee River adventure, the Venture Patrol spent the day on the Silver River. As the Silver River …
Lazy Scout's High Adventure (opens in a new tab)
So last month 5 Venture Patrol Scouts and 3 adults from our troop went on a 50 miler. It was our first time trying our own long-term canoe / kayak trip and from the outset we were cautious not to …
Zombie Makeup (opens in a new tab)
Just wanted to do a quick post to display the transformation of Scout to Zombie (click images to go to the albums): Here's Josh, he was the first to be made up: Here's Joey, they put an effect …
Zombie Movie (opens in a new tab)
Our May Campout was supposed to be this final conclusion to our Zombie theme that we had running through the year so far. In January we had a Geocaching type campout where they had to find Z0M-B formula in the …
Aquatics Supervision (opens in a new tab)
When I went to Summer Camp this year at LaNoChe, I took part in one of their Scouter education programs and recertified in Aquatics Supervision: Swimming & Water Rescue and Paddle Craft Safety. I have held both of those certifications …
Homesickness and the First Year Scout (opens in a new tab)
An ASM and I have talked a lot about homesickness and our new scouts lately. Over the last few months we've had a number of conversations about why we do things, what to expect at Summer Camp, etc. Thought I'd …
Back to the Basics (opens in a new tab)
I posted earlier about our trip to Camp LaNoChe and will probably have a number of follow ups as there are a lot of things to talk about. Camp LaNoChe was listed in Scouting Magazine's Guide to Cool Camps this …
Joey (opens in a new tab)
We went to Summer Camp last week. Every year we go back to the same camp, Camp LaNoChe in the Central Florida Council. We promote it to our first and second year scouts and we usually get a number of …
How to be a Star (Scout) (opens in a new tab)
Scoutmaster Conferences are a great time to go over the goals and dreams of a Scout and to encourage them on, however, it seems that a lot of times that once a Scout leaves the conference, it is out of …
Don't Leave Yet – Reblogged from Adventures and Accidents (opens in a new tab)
I know this has been talked about Ad Nauseum, but I wanted to reblog this as it is precisely to the point! Don't leave yet. The other day I read this article about an upcoming vote by the Southern Baptist …
Planning Meeting for the Planning Meeting (opens in a new tab)
Just met this week with the Committee Chair and the Treasurer for the Pre-Planning Meeting for the Pack's Annual Planning Meeting and I feel a lot better about the process going into this year than I did about going into …
Where's Everyone Going? (opens in a new tab)
Wow! What a month for me to take off from the Blog! My hour a week left over after Scouting has seemed to vanish lately, and the last thing I've wanted to do was think about Scouts more and post …
Goals (opens in a new tab)
I like setting goals. I like knowing what success is and developing a plan to get there. I use the various Individual and Unit Awards to help assess and develop long term strategic goals for our units, both for the …
Cit in the Community – Eagle Required (opens in a new tab)
Speaking about Adult Training, Baden-Powell said "Don't be content with the what, but get to know the why and the how." I believe this is integral in our delivering a good program to our Scouts. For example, a Scoutmaster should …
Growing Wings (opens in a new tab)
We just held an Eagle Court of Honor for my oldest son this past weekend. During the ceremony, our troop traditionally has a slide show that shows the Scout's career. This is probably my favorite song for that kind of …
Food for Thought (opens in a new tab)
As we work to prepare these boys, sometimes I lose focus on the goals of the program because of everything that is going on. I love the way this video kind of brings home what our efforts can and will …
Boy Scout Mission…. Changed? (opens in a new tab)
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Seems to me the Boy Scouts …
This past weekend we had a leadership lock-in… (opens in a new tab)
This past weekend we had a leadership lock-in and Intro to Leadership Skills – Troop training. The original goal was to work with the troop that we split from and kind of get the family back together, but that didn't …
Fire Pistons (opens in a new tab)
One of the ASMs in the troop is really good with fire. You know the type, he comes prepared to all of the campouts with a little bow drill, flint and steel, makes his own char cloth… all the dressings …
Zombie Blood Trail (opens in a new tab)
Last weekend our troop went camping and it was a full weekend. I wrote earlier about our morning, where they had a Scavenger Hike, but in the Evening, because of our Zombie Theme, they setup a Zombie Blood Trail. Once …
Scavenger Hike (opens in a new tab)
We are still following our Zombie theme and this month the program feature was backpacking and hiking and last Friday we met up at the local scout camp. The plan for the weekend was a digital camera scavenger hunt for …
Service Awards (opens in a new tab)
We had our first Court of Honor with the new troop last night. Went pretty well, the SPL and MC followed a standard script, they had a bunch of scouts they recruited to light candles, say the opening and closing …
Scout Direct (opens in a new tab)
I don't get paid to blog. Matter of fact, I don't even pay for the website, it's a free service from WordPress.com, that's why sometimes you see the odd advertisement down at the bottom. It's a hobby and probably a …
Cooking over the Campfire (opens in a new tab)
We formed our new troop last month and we had to start afresh with troop equipment. Due to limited funds and a commitment to get "back to the basics" we decided to forgo gas / propane stoves for the patrols …