Scouts & "Homework" for badges etc

[19thPurley]

so .... 69 activity badges, 9 challenge badges .... they can't hope to do all of that in normal weekly meetings ....

ok so a lot of the badges are more for air or sea scouts, things our lads and lasses are unlikely to ever do
and there are badges that take place over a period of time
and part of the IT staged badges required use of the Internet, which we don't have at the scout hut

so do you give scouts things to do "in their own time", ie, "homework"??

for example - the writer badge asks them to write 500 words about something - do you encourage them to do it, ask them to do it, or wait for one of them to say "hey, i wrote a story ..." or "hey, i keep a diary about this and that ..."?

and the staged IT badge asks them to do use a search engine etc - we don't have internet in the scout hut, so what about giving them a task to carry out from home (if they want to)?

[astwood7]

We work towards the challenge badges during Scout meetings but for the activity badges they are pointed in the direction of Scoutbase to find out the requirements and then bring in the evidence to prove they have completed the requirements. Similar for the staged badges although for something like First Aid we have brought in St Johns trainers on a couple of evenings.

[Testarossa]

All our Scouts are issued with a badge book when they are invested into Scouts. They are encouraged to do things in their own time if they want to, but no pressure is put on them.

Our Scout Leader now works away so cannot make a lot of meetings. When he does make it home, he becomes the "Badge Doctor" for the night and the Scouts can talk to him about any progress they are making on badges, or ask him questions about badges.

The Challenge badges are focussed on more than the activity badges, but not all of them are completed.

(I only know all this as my daughter is a Scout - I'm a Cub Leader, and for Cubs my answer would be different)

[nele]

A lot of the activity badges are specialised and only really interesting for certain scouts. So mostly scouts do these outside normal meetings.

Having said that there are some which can be run in meetings, which there was another thread on earlier this year. Some badges can be done partly in meetings and homework set for those who're interested to complete the badge.

[Raksha]

We also get badge work signed off at School or interest clubs - eg Rugby / football / cricket/ golf, music lessons, IT, martial arts, archery, fencing, trampolining are all activities that have been signed off externally, circus skills is another we have had done externally.

[GreenGrass]

We cover certain badges as part of the program - like fire safety, first aid & swimming (staged). As we are a church affiliated group - the faith badge and promise challenge are easy to cover during the year.

If there is a club/school teacher who is willing to sign off that a standard has been reached (particularly sport/music/ICT) then I'm happy to accept that. To be honest though - there are only a few of our scouts who are really interested in the badges apart from the challenge ones ........ not great at getting on with things on their own!

[19thPurley]

ok that's good about the homework - i won't feel guilty now!!

for teachers signing off, what do you guys do about approaching the teacher etc etc?? don't you get the kids to do anything else??

[scoutgamer]

for teachers signing off, what do you guys do about approaching the teacher etc etc?? don't you get the kids to do anything else??

I'm a cub leader - which is somewhat easier because parents are more involved, but basically I get the teacher/ instructor to sign a sheet with the badge requirements on. I then make sure we chat to the Cub to ensure they know what they're supposed to have done (it avoids parents doing it all, but we don't usually have any problems with that).
Some of the Cub badges also require the Cub to talk about it to a leader or other Cubs, we try and do this during weekly meeting time, usually during game time at the end - someone will go off and talk to the Cub.
For Scouts, I'd expect them to be able to print details out themselves, or photocopy from the manuals at our HQ, then approach the relevant instructor themselves.
There's no one right answer, just ways that work well for you and your Scouts.

Peter

[astwood7]

for teachers signing off, what do you guys do about approaching the teacher etc etc?? don't you get the kids to do anything else??

our Scouts have to approach the teacher themselves - all part of helping them 'grow'

[wealdbrook]

Like most other people, we try and ensure that they have the opporunity to do 85% of the challenge badge requirements through the weekday meeting or camps. There are a few bits we expect them to do on their own - making it a challenge.
For activity badges, it is largely up to them, sometimes we will do a theme in a term which provides material for both challenge and an activity or is just an activty if fun and Scouting.
My only problem is that quite a bit of the challenges is not realy Scouting and sometimes Scouting type activities don't fit anywhere.

[DonTregartha]

We do Challenge activities at the meetings as it helps build the programme.

We have done some of the activity badges such as climbing, camp cook, DIY and the mechanics badges as they are universal enough for all the troop to enjoy.

All the rest they must look it up themselves, check out the requirements and bring in the validation.

When you've only go a couple of hours a week, you can't spend the whole time getting them through their badges. They have to do it themselves.

[recneps]

We aim to do 1-2 challenge badges and 3 activity badges per year during "scout time" - the kids are then expected to do at least one activity badge of their own accord per year (although thats only a recommendation!).

[Raksha]

for teachers signing off, what do you guys do about approaching the teacher etc etc?? don't you get the kids to do anything else??

Scouts have to approach teacher / instructor themselves. I tell the Scouts that this is an option and that if the teachers want clarification then they can contact me

[Doug in Canada]

We do the same in cubs. Over here the program is based on six stars (similar to challenge badges). We tend to do about 85% of the requirements during our meetings or camps. I always leave at least one requirement for them to do at home and if they don't do it they don't get the star - their choice. The activity badges are usually up to them although there are a few we might cover at camp such as hiking or camping but mainly they are designed to allow kids to pursue their varied interests. Some of them require sign off by teachers or other "experts". I leave it up to the cubs to approach them and get them signed and like ninthskip have them get the expert to call if there are questions.

[tim_n]

Staged badges can be worked on by themselves at home or with teachers/tutors. I've had one girl do all swimming badges in the course of a term as she's on a swimming team. I take other kids interests and as long as they've got a signed form by someone I'll take it on their honour that they've done whatever the badge entails.

As for the IT badge, I rang a local ADSL provider & wrote them a formal letter and got free broadband to our hall - we've had it a couple of years and are only really now starting to make use of it properly!