This is an excerpt from an email I sent at the beginning of this week. I will update these with the parents and scheduled dates as they come in.
Pat and I have sifted through the Achievements for the Bear Cubs for which we think parental leadership would do more than just take the heat off of us. Your participation will help our scouts, your scouts understand that we're all involved in making them successful in this endeavor and that we all can work together to get this admittedly long list of achievements under our collective belts. What we have compiled in this note (BELOW OUR SIGNATURES) are nine achievements one of which has already been fully assigned to the Sarli Family (#7 "Law and Order") and one partially (#22 - "Tying it All Up") that has been assigned to a family who's name I misplaced -- sorry)
What we need from you is to sign up to lead one of these achievements at a den meeting (which we will schedule ad-hoc to accommodate when you can slot this in). Please get back to me (Vince) with the one you want as soon as possible as well as a tentative month in which you can make this happen. To be fair, we need to slot it into our calendars and our achievement tracker. I'd advise you to look at the Barrington
School Schedule to avoid any obvious conflicts we have in common.
We can also make this an "event." If you're concerned about the cost, we can reimburse most things from the Pack's funds. If you're concerned about a locale, we can manage that with you, if you're concerned about any of the other logistics (such as a release form or insurance form from the Pack, just ask). All we need you to do is to sign up to lead one of these events (multiple families can combine to run one). We've generated some suggestions below but we're willing to take "artistic" license around Achievement completion. If there is something in the "Electives" section that you might find interesting instead (I haven't outlined those), please do so, as these can be a ton of fun. For example, Ken Schneyer is working to schedule us time for the "Stars" elective at the
Seagrave Observatory in Scituate in February.
ACHIEVEMENT OPTIONS & SUGGESTIONSUPDATE: NOW A WARREN FAMILY LED EVENTAchievement #5: Sharing your World With WildlifeThis activity (if the birdhouse construction was skipped) could consist of organizing a den visit the Audobon Society in Bristol, RI (401-245-7500) or other nature preserve in the area and do the following:
5c - talk to a wildlife conservation officer (or close proxy for one)
5d - visit the center
5e - talk about an extinct bird or animal
Achievement #7: Law and OrderASSIGNED: Sarli FamilyAchievement #11 Be ReadyThis is a long list that sums up to fire, water, and home safety tips for the scouts
11a What to do in case of an accident at home
11b What to do in case of a water accident
11c What to do in case of a school bus accident
11d What to do in case of a car accident
11e Plan an escape route with your family -- have a practice drill at home
11f Have a health checkup (optional)
Achievement #14 Ride Right - in addition to 14a as a "requirement" we need to complete three other requirements
Achievement 14b was fulfilled by attending the Bike Rodeo at the beginning of the year. If not, a simple "dexterity" ride with a parent or adult partner will suffice
This might be a good one for a parent who can go over how to maintain a bike and change a tire or someone who knows someone at a bike shop who might want to come to someones house to talk about bike safety -- or if its better -- go over to their shop. Any bike shop would love to have an opportunity to get parents and kids to "browse". "
Achievement #15 Games, Games, Games -- We need to complete two requirements -- this might even be a good one to try at the YMCA
15a Set Up the Equipment and play any two of these games with your family or friends
15b Play two organized games with your den
15c Select a game that your den has never played -- explain the rules, tell them how to play it and the play it with them. (leader's note -- this one is interesting, in preparation for this event, we could send a note to the scouts and have them come up with a game, announce it, describe it and vote on it and the supervising parent helps them through it)
Achievement #17 (Part One): Information, PleaseWe are looking for a parent to help arrange a visit for the scouts to a newspaper office, or a TV or radio station and talk to a news reporter.
Achievement #19 "Shavings and Chips" -- or as we like to call it, "Knives at 9"Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn made it in fiction, who's to say the kids can't do it? This achievement has a lot of "responsibility-setting" in it and, given that it has knives involved -- Pat and I will help you along the way with this one.
19a - A Review of the Safety Rules
19b - Sharpening the Knife
19c - Making a Carving (creating the shape from a traced pattern -- pre-work for the even)
19d - "Knives are not Toys" and the "Pocketknife Pledge"
UPDATE: NOW A SULLIVAN FAMILY LED EVENT
Achievement #21 (Part One): Build a ModelThe scout must complete three requirements (and 21g is a required requirement).
While this seems like a thing a scout could do on their own, I think if the den did one big scene (i.e. someone does the landscape, someone puts together a model on the landscape, the display could be landscape or a wooden frame around it.... we could take a picture of it and have it forever (versus in some one's garage forever). Nothing is saying that a scout who wants their own model cannot do it because they want to - more than the three count towards an "arrow."
Anyway, here are the achievement sub-components...
21a - Build a Model from a Kit
21b - Build a Display for one of your models
21c - Draw a Layout and Plan to Move Furniture in one room in your house (on paper)
21d - Make a Model of a Mountain, Meadow, Canyon or a River
21e -Go to see a model of some architectural thing that's to be built (a paraphrase from the book)
21f - Make a Model of a Boat, Plane, or Car
21g - (required) Thinking and Contemplating about Achievement #21 (can be done aloud)
UPDATE: KREUZKAMP FAMILY LED EVENT (DATE TBD)Achievement #22: "Tying it All Up" (ASSIGNED)-- The scouts need to complete five of these six requirements. I'd recommend doing the first five and, if the scouts are adventurous on their own (and with a parent or adult partner) they can indeed complete achievement 22f, "Make your own rope." This achievement has a neat rope throw in it so it might be a good one for March! If the weather holds up in February and we can work around the winter break but March or April might be good for this one.
UPDATE: Now a MacGillvray/Hoder/Sullivan - Led Event on 12/13/08 2pm at the YMCA!!
Achievement #23: SportsThis one requires the scout to perform all five of the achievements but the parent-led event really can involve two of the requirements
- 23a Learn the Rules of and learn to play three team sports and
- 23b Learn the rules of two sports in which there is only one player on each side)
