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How do you efficiently sign Webelos books?

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7:41 am
October 22, 2009

Cubmaster Chris

Cedar Park, Texas

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posts 515

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Post edited 12:43 pm – October 22, 2009 by Cubmaster Chris

Webelos Leaders -

We struggle to get the boys books signed without taking time away from the Den Meetings. Here is our scenario: Our Den Leaders ask that the boys bring the books to them (not their parents) to sign off on achievements. They bring the book to our awards person to record it for the Pack awards.

What happens is we end up with a bottleneck, especially after the meetings. Any tips to make things more efficient and still encourage the boys to be more responsible?

I want to clarify this: our system for TRACKING everything is fine. I'm only interested in the time the boys and leaders lose getting the books signed. I'm so used to watching the Boy Scout Troop do it, where they have about 10 people that can sign off and if a leader takes 1 boy off to discuss their book, the rest of the boys can continue with their meeting. And that has made me forget how Webelos should do it.

8:12 am
October 22, 2009

MISS Liberty

California

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posts 231

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At the beginning of each meeting we'd collect the books. I had another parent hop on my computer during the meeting to record achievements and advancement online. We used http://www.scouttrack.com/ – but I'm sure there are a billion other similar sites. This way, our Advancement Chair only had to go online to see what was going on with our Den. It also meant the Cubmaster could see – at a glance – whether or not Dens were progressing.

I also used one of the Trax excel sheets to keep my own records in case something didn't jive and every two months or so I'd print out a Trax sheet for each boy to take home to double check to make sure everything had been recorded.

I really liked Scouttrack.com. It's super handy IF you can get leaders to use it. As leadership changed out, den leaders stopped using it so we didn't renew our membership. Since I'm not a den leader or the Advancement Chairman, it makes no difference to me, but if I ever were to take on either position, I'd definitely push for it again. (Or something similar, at least.)

"[S]He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which." ~ Douglas Adams

8:33 am
October 22, 2009

BigMc

Houston

PTC Tenderfoot

posts 243

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Post edited 12:35 pm – October 22, 2009 by BigMc

Cool. I just finished listening to the show and between the time I started and the time I finished, you posted the questions.

I have a Bear den and use the Trax spreadsheet to keep track of who was at each meeting and what was done. Periodicallly, I scam the books from the Scout and sign them based on the spreadsheet and get the book back to the Scout at the next meeting. However, I really like the idea of havingthe Scout bring me the book to get it signed off. That will help prepare them for Boy Scouts. There are a couple of kids in my older son's troops who have few rank requirement sign-offs simply because they will not ask. We have told them to seek out an ASM, but they won't do it. We even had a campout where an ASM told the Scouts that he would be “sitting at that picnic table ready to sign books if you have any requirements you need signed off.” and only one Scout went over to him. Starting them now will get them in the habit, but the bottleneck is an issue, especially near Blue-Gold. I will probably go with before or after the meeting, but set a time limit on how late I will stay. After a few meeting, the boys should be caught up and it shouldn't take too long. Plus, as they see other Scouts getting their beads, it will give them incentive to get their book signed. That way, by Webelos, they will hopefully have the habit ingrained.

Kevin Mc.
ScoutMaster – Troop 1865;
Copperhead District;
Sam Houston Area Council;
Houston, TX;
Twitter TaxgeekKM

9:05 am
October 22, 2009

smwalker_oh

Middletown, Ohio

PTC Star Scout

posts 592

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During Wolf and Bear, I as Asst. Den Leader would get the books from the parents and sign off during the meeting while the Den Leader did stuff with the boys. Now that we're Webelos, things will be different, especially now that I am DL and have no actual Asst. Den Leader. What we have done is have the boys create a binder where each meeting we add a workbookfor the Webelos badge or one of the Activity Badges (I get the workbooks straight from http://www.usscouts.org in the Advancements section). Then at the end of the meeting during our closing we have the boys mark the items in those workbooks that are "homework."

The plan is during the gathering time of the next meeting we'll have some sort of activity to keep them occupied (usually making the workbook for the next badge to add to their binder). While they're doing this, the boys (NOT THE PARENTS) will individually come to me and we'll go over what they did since the last meeting – they'll describe what they did or demonstrate the skill (if it is something like tying a knot, etc.), basically demonstrate that they've done the requirement – and then I'll sign off on it and mark it down on my papers which then that night I upload to our pack's account on http://www.scouttrack.com (which is awesome, btw, it's what we switched to when scoutdata got bought out by SOAR and they did away with the advancement tracking in favor of enhanced website hosting).

Now we've only had a couple of meetings but it seems to have gone okay so far, I think it will get better as we all get used to the routine.

For my son, I refuse to sign off on his stuff. Since I'm the only leader in his den right now I'm making him go to either the WDL or one of the two AWDL's for the Webelos II den to get approval for his stuff. It teaches him to get comfortable going to other adults, which is the intent there.

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3:13 pm
October 22, 2009

SquirrelLeader

cerritos, ca

PTC Tiger

posts 6

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I try to be at our meetings 15 minutes early ready to go. I have told the boys that if they would like me to sign their book for things not done at meetings I can be available up to 1/2 hour before or after the meeting if they let me know beforehand. I also have designated 1-2 adults to help in signing books based on who led the meeting. Having just begun the year – this meeting coming up will be the first one I asked them to do some things at home on their own. I plan on awarding the WEBELOS badge at our Jan meeting – they will earn it if they attend all meetings and do all suggested activities at home. I remind them of this every meeting and also of what they need to do to qualify. We'll see how it goes. My older son's den had 4 leaders so we were able to move through sign offs pretty quickly at meetings.

3:18 pm
October 22, 2009

smwalker_oh

Middletown, Ohio

PTC Star Scout

posts 592

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The biggest difference between Tiger/Wolf/Bear and Webelos is that at the Webelos level is shouldn't be the parents bringing the leader the book so the leader can record what got done. It should be the boy coming to the leader (no parents needed) to show the Den Leader what he's accomplished and the leader approves (rather than records) the advancement. That can definitely make things difficult, and I know that over the next several weeks when boys start completing items the parents are going to have that deer in the headlight look when they hand me a book and I tell them to give it to their son to bring to me.

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