Our Journey Through Tiger Cub Scouting - November 2008 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Our Journey Through Tiger Cub Scouting - November 2008
This is one of a series of posts about our year in Tiger Cub Scouting. If you missed anything you can go back and read about it here - September 2008 October 2008.
And remember, feel free to jump in with your experiences, too!
Saturday, November 1
Since tonight is the time change, I thought it was the perfect day to complete Elective 28, Smoke Detectors. All Joshua had to do was to "help" Jay check the batteries in our smoke detector to make sure they were still working. That took all of about 2 seconds!
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The other thing we did today was to finish up the requirements for the art belt loop. The third and final item on the checklist was to identify the primary and secondary colors, show how the secondary colors are created, and make a painting using all six colors. On his worksheet, I had Joshua write down the three primary colors. Next, he put some of each color paint on a sheet of paper, then mixed them together to get the secondary colors. Once those were identified, he wrote them in the blank on his worksheet. Last was to make a painting. He took the easy way out by deciding to paint a rainbow. But this is his project, right? He did go back and put some grass at the bottom, but that was it. However, technically he has fulfilled the requirements for the award. So at our next meeting I will make sure it gets recorded; hopefully the following week which is a pack meeting he can receive the belt loop.
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Sunday, November 2
Today, like every Sunday, we attended church together. However, the difference in today is that we were able to count our attendance as one of the ten requirements for the BSA Family award. That's 2 down, 8 to go before the end of the Tiger year.
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Great work on all the electives and requirements!! I just went thru Colin's book this weekend and signed off a bunch of stuff. Apparently DH is to give the Den Leader a list tonight so she can get the beads and record stuff, and of course he didn't do it!!
Great work on all the electives and requirements!! I just went thru Colin's book this weekend and signed off a bunch of stuff. Apparently DH is to give the Den Leader a list tonight so she can get the beads and record stuff, and of course he didn't do it!!
Thanks! and ... Cool for Colin! It's neat how quickly these things can add up. I suppose that in later years the activities will be more involved as per their attention span and intelligence, but the Tiger stuff is much more simple than I had thought it was going to be. (Which is a good thing, I guess! )
Keeping up with all the achievements/electives/etc. is really good for creative thinking. It forces me to use my noggin on Joshua's school projects and our planned weekend activities, to see if what he is going to be doing anyway can also be used for Scouting.
We visited the local firehouse tonight. The fire chief reminded us that checking your smoke detector means more than just checking the battery. To see if the smoke detector is still sensitive enough to detect smoke, pressing the battery isn't enough. You actually need to burn something in a tall can and make smoke under it to test it. No kidding! Pressing the button only tests the battery itself - not the sensitivity of the smoke sensors!
BTW - where did you find the requirements for the BSA Family Award? I haven't found it online anywhere yet.
I remember DS's year of Tigers. I was elected to help him with his pine derby car. He came in 2nd in his group so he got to go to district but all those other cars were rigged as DS came in 15th. Most of the top finishers have used that ramp before.
We visited the local firehouse tonight. The fire chief reminded us that checking your smoke detector means more than just checking the battery. To see if the smoke detector is still sensitive enough to detect smoke, pressing the battery isn't enough. You actually need to burn something in a tall can and make smoke under it to test it. No kidding! Pressing the button only tests the battery itself - not the sensitivity of the smoke sensors!
Although the handbook only says to check the batteries, you do make an excellent point. And since one of our upcoming achievements is to have a fire drill, that would be an excellent time to test the alarm with something smoky!
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BTW - where did you find the requirements for the BSA Family Award? I haven't found it online anywhere yet.
I actually had to look for a little while because I couldn't remember how much I actually did find online. Apparently not that much. Of course it is mentioned in the back of the Tiger handbook, and the BSA link is: BSA Family Award
I just spent a few minutes searching the ScoutStuff web store but couldn't find the listing. I know they recently had it, though, because that's how I found out the price ($4.99). Don't know why it isn't listed on the store site anymore. Under Literature, I think it used to be on the Pamphlet page.
Anyway, there are so many options to choose from, I'm sure that's why they aren't listed online anywhere (at least not that I've noticed). Many are things that you would normally be doing anyway, others take some advance planning. Each category has an "easy out" - by reading a book about that topic.
This is an award you can repeat each year. When you repeat you can do the same activities or different ones. All family members receive an award - patch for the scout, pins for the other members. Plus a certificate.
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Yeah, that's the same link I found. I can't find anything more in-depth and the book has basically disappeared. I don't know what to tell the families in my den that are asking about it at this point. It's just GONE.
Yeah, that's the same link I found. I can't find anything more in-depth and the book has basically disappeared. I don't know what to tell the families in my den that are asking about it at this point. It's just GONE.
Hmmm, so do you think this means they are discontinuing the program? Seems like if the book was just simply out of stock they would have something on the scoutstuff site. When I was browsing through the scoutstuff patches and awards they have for sale, I noticed 5 others that used similar logos to the BSA Family award. They were for five different categories - similar, but not exactly the same as the BSA Family. Each had a different color although the design was the same. Pins and patches were available for each, just like the BSA Family award has. They were for something called the Family Fun Book. Have you heard anything about this? I searched the scout site and the web in general and couldn't find anything.
Started out with the pack for the opening ceremony, broke into dens for the remainder of the evening. Started on Achievement 3, Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe. Gary had the boys make a joint food guide pyramid with food pictures he had brought from home, then gave each of them a blank one to do at home. This was the "den" activity, but as you can see it turned into more of a "home" activity.
Gary asked us to do the family activity for this unit as our "homework". It consists of two parts - conduct a fire drill at your home, and role-play what to do if you (the scout) becomes lost.
We were interrupted by Tim coming around to collect our popcorn money and order forms, and by the boys acting crazy. Good thing for my nerves that there are only 3-4 regular attending scouts or I'd be climbing the walls every week.
Gary closed by distributing the immediate recognition emblems and beads that had been earned up to this point, based on the den activities and family activities we've done, and if anybody had done the go-see-its. Joshua ended up with 8 beads total. Gary asked one of the parents to see if they could line us up a visit to the police station soon, and also said that we'd probably be visiting the radio station at the college across the street, so that's two more beads that hopefully the boys can earn soon.
I asked Gary on the way out if he thought visiting the Natural Science Museum could be counted as visiting an aquarium, since at least half of their exhibits were aquarium tanks. He thought that would work, so I counted that toward one of Joshua's electives. Also before leaving, I told Gary that Joshua had completed his requirements for the art belt loop. He didn't have the tracking form, but made a note of it, especially since next week is a pack meeting, maybe they can get it in time for Joshua to receive it next Monday.
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Tuesday, November 4
Election Day
Joshua went with Jay and me when we voted this afternoon. Doing so, along with us explaining the process and our choices, counts as a requirement for the Citizenship pin. We didn't get too much into explaining our particular choices, just mainly focused on the basics of an election and that it's important to make a good choice when voting. Luckily there was no line when we arrived (most of our residents were lined up at 7 am!) so it didn't take very long.
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Helped Joshua complete his own food guide pyramid. He cut food pictures out of the grocery store advertisement in the paper and glued them on. Then we did the accompanying activity in the book. We had to have a healthy snack (we chose yogurt), then discuss when it's difficult to eat healthy, and which foods our bodies need.
I called the closest full service Scout Shop today. They had a few copies left and plenty of the badges, so I had one set aside and they reassured me that notice would be given before any program is discontinued in case anyone was close to earning their badges.
Colin did the food pyramid on Monday as well!! He came home with a bunch of stuff (lots of extras for them to do at home)!! Alexa made up a schedule for him for the rest of the week so he could get it all in!
I called the closest full service Scout Shop today. They had a few copies left and plenty of the badges, so I had one set aside and they reassured me that notice would be given before any program is discontinued in case anyone was close to earning their badges.
Glad you were able to find a copy, and that they are not discontinuing this. For those families willing to do a little extra and work on this, I think it's a great thing! I posted a question over in one of the scouting forums, maybe I can get some more info from somebody over there.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Colin did the food pyramid on Monday as well!! He came home with a bunch of stuff (lots of extras for them to do at home)!! Alexa made up a schedule for him for the rest of the week so he could get it all in!
He came home with a bunch of stuff (lots of extras for them to do at home)!! Alexa made up a schedule for him for the rest of the week so he could get it all in!
I'm so happy to hear your whole family is involved and that Colin gets homework to work on with all of you! Tiger Cubs is supposed to be a family commitment. It's nice to see families actually working together!
I give my kids home work nearly every week. (Not the week of the Pack meeting.) The parents grumble, but I'm assigning things they're supposed to do at home with a parent. Like "make a snack with your adult partner". (I amend that to a healthy snack or balanced meal. )
Some of the parents just baffle me. Why join Scouts if you have no interest in doing the work or activities? I don't get it. DJ's got most of his Tiger Cub beads already because we do the work and attend most Pack Events.
I think the stuff the kids do to earn their beads is fun. I LOVE doing the Belt Loop requirements with DJ. Fun, fun, fun!
Some of the parents just baffle me. Why join Scouts if you have no interest in doing the work or activities? I don't get it. DJ's got most of his Tiger Cub beads already because we do the work and attend most Pack Events.
I think the stuff the kids do to earn their beads is fun. I LOVE doing the Belt Loop requirements with DJ. Fun, fun, fun!
I agree! Scouts is not an easy-peasy thing, where you just come to a meeting once a week and they throw awards at you! Anything worth having is worth working for. There are several things that annoy me about our meetings, but Joshua always comes home talking about how much he loves scouts.
I also agree about having fun working on the projects. It's fun to plan out what we're going to do and when, and finding ways to work other activities into scouting. I think, Chrissi, you said it well on one of your threads about not imagining family life without scouts!
Anyway, not much going on here this week. The fire drill that was our homework for the week will get done Sunday afternoon I guess, since we've just had other things going on during the week.
PS. Checked the scouting forum for BSA Family info, nobody knows anything so I guess the book was just out of stock for a while. (It's still at our local scout shop, though.)
We had our town Veteran's Day ceremony today, which Colin went to (and some other Scouts as well). He got red/white/blue beads for it being a pack event, and got to shake hands with the Veterans that were there, which I think was good for him (and DD) as far as understanding Veteran's Day!!
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But this is his project, right? He did go back and put some grass at the bottom, but that was it. However, technically he has fulfilled the requirements for the award. So at our next meeting I will make sure it gets recorded; hopefully the following week which is a pack meeting he can receive the belt loop.
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Seems like if the book was just simply out of stock they would have something on the scoutstuff site. When I was browsing through the scoutstuff patches and awards they have for sale, I noticed 5 others that used similar logos to the BSA Family award. They were for five different categories - similar, but not exactly the same as the BSA Family. Each had a different color although the design was the same. Pins and patches were available for each, just like the BSA Family award has. They were for something called the Family Fun Book. Have you heard anything about this? I searched the scout site and the web in general and couldn't find anything.
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