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Boy Scouts
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Calling all scout lovers!
Could you let me know the ins and outs of boys scouts, as well as pros and cons of being involved? My 8 & 13yo ds have been invited to visit a local homeschool boyscout group. I want to know if its really worth it, since they are already involved in many other things. Trying to weigh our activity options for this upcoming year.
Thanks,
Heather
Hi, Heather!
We are enthusiastic Scouters here. My church has a troop set up; both my older boys are in it, and my youngest is a Cub at a pack at a local school. It has been just a great thing for my boys, who are pretty outdoorsy and nature-science interested. We are very involved as a family in both the pack and the troop, so we know the leaders well, we are often helping at various posts. My boys have learned things at Scouts I could never teach them myself. My oldest son is preparing for his Eagle Scout project right now; he should be an Eagle before the year is out if all goes well. He has learned leadership, how to do things he doesn’t want to do, how to camp out in the rain with a good attitude. He has flown airplanes, built things, learned how to fix toilets, learned a lot about giving presentations, learned leadership skills, all in a Godly environment. There is a little bit of Native American and other legend/myth stuff, I actually notice this most at the Cub Scout level, but in the packs and troops we’ve been involved in, this has been minimized as most were strong Christians. My boys all love it, and at one time when we needed to winnow down activity involvement, Scouts was everyone’s unanimous choice of what to keep. But then I must confess our family and our interests are well suited for Scouting. I really can’t imagine my boys without it. There is a fair amount of time involvement, especially for Boy Scouts and especially for those who want to advance through ranks. It takes a lot of parental commitment–I get a pin for every rank advancement the boys make, lol. I earn it. 🙂 We love it. IMO it is worth a visit to see how much your sons might like it.
Michelle D
Bookworm-
Our 7 yr old, 1st grader (who is the oldest of 5 boys, so this will probably also become a way of life for us 🙂 is joining a Cub Scout group this year. We are military. How is this going to work moving every 2-3 yrs…does he just keep going with other troops? How easy is it to find a good troop (like you mentioned – Godly environment, strong Christians, serious about Scouting)?
Kathi
Michelle, I think you’ve talked me into visiting
. We’re really looking forward to it. Thanks for the helpful information! Sounds like you have a great troop – praise God.Heather
Kathi, I’m sorry I didn’t see your questions from the other day. My computer is awaiting a part to arrive to be repaired and in the meantime can only run for a little bit at a time without crashing. 🙂
Scouts and the military go together very well, although I think there are now rules that military units cannot actually officially sponsor troops and they can no longer camp on military land, for some odd reason probably related to all the “fuss” from a couple of years ago over some political issues. It is pretty easy to get records transferred from unit to unit, though. I would recommend you keep good records of what your sons have achieved, too, though, to make sure nothing gets “lost” There are usually strong Scouting units near large bases. Look for units sponsored by a church or a military or veteran’s organization–you’ll probably find enthusiastic Scouters and Christians as well. A lot of Christian groups/churches have really come through for Scouting in recent years, especially as some other organizations like schools and United Way and stuff have been cutting off or limiting support, sigh. It seems to me that all the brouhaha has ended up attracting a larger percentage of Christian families perhaps. At least near us.
Michelle
Kathi–We are military too. One of the nice things about scouts is that even with all the moving we do, the theme is the same all across the US for the year. I’m also our Den Leader and love working with the boys. This is our first year homeschooling, but I’m already finding ways to tie in scouting with some of our school work. One project=2 “credits”
Bringing this up again because we’ve visited our local homeschooling Boyscout & Cubscout packs and fell in love with them and their families. We’re considering joining in January.
However, we have a bit of hesitancy with our (now) 14yo ds, who is worried that he’s “too old” to join. He thinks that he would be so far behind all the other boyscouts and this would leave him at a disadvantage. Could you fill me in on how this would work with him joining as a teen?
Thanks! Heather
Heather,
He can do just fine joining at 14. That still gives him four years to work on advancements and badges. He’ll probably want to work pretty quickly towards his First Class, then he can be put in a patrol (if the troop has more than one) that are boys his age–many boys keep First Class until they are 15 or so. There are no time qualifications for achieving First Class (there are for some of the higher advancements like Star or Life Scout) so he can get those done quickly. It is very possible that other boys in the troop might not have started young, either, and you really can’t tell once they get going! The usual age for beginning in Boy Scouts is about 12, so he isn’t even very unusually old. He can do just fine! It is possible to progress quickly. My oldest is working on his Eagle which he hopes to complete before the first of the year (he needs to get moving on a few things though!!) and it will have taken him just four years to do it. He’s pretty gung-ho, but it is very possible to move along in that time frame.
Any troop worth its badges will happily take your son in at 14 and move him up as quickly as he wants to go!
Michelle
. We’re really looking forward to it. Thanks for the helpful information! Sounds like you have a great troop – praise God.
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