Search Results for: boyscouts

Homeschooling and Scouting: An Unfair Advantage?

At the Eagle Ceremony we recently attended, I got into a discussion with another parent about the merit badges my boys are working on. One of them is Citizenship in the Nation. It’s a fairly involved badge with a lot of requirements. I’m blessed that my mom has agreed to be their merit badge counselor and is giving them a weekly class that incorporates the BSA required study. The other parent, whom I’ll call Michael, gave me a lecture on how that was unfair to the boys in the troop who were government-schooled. His main point was that to use … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: Using Scouting to Fulfill Academic Requirements

It’s Friday. That means my boys have no schoolwork. What? Let me rephrase that. They have no schoolwork from their regular textbooks. Instead, Fridays at our house have become Boy Scout days. They work on their badges and advancement. Before we got involved in Scouting, I thought Boy Scouts meant camping, tying knots, and Indian folklore. Yes, those are included, but Scouting is so much more! I was amazed at the amount of scholarly requirements. Science, reading, artwork, social studies, history, civics, home arts, language, and even math are covered to some degree. We live in Washington where the homeschool … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: David Finds a Troop

We’d been trying to Lone Scout for two years, with some success. Part of the reason we’d chosen to go it alone was that David had superior math skills, but was struggling in reading and self-conscious about it. By the time Elisha was old enough to begin Scouting, I was firmly convinced that the benefits of being in a troop were far outweighed by the negative socialization. Then came Paula’s little note on our online homeschool list. It was just a small blurb, really. Letting people know that her son had joined a Boy Scout Troop that was homeschool-friendly and … Continue reading →

Homeschooling and Scouting: Our Story

If you’ve been following my posts, you know I can be a bit on the protective side with my children. We are careful with what they read, what they watch, and with whom they associate. It’s out of a desire to protect their innocence, and thus far it’s working. After hearing too many horror stories, we reluctantly went to check out the local Scouting troops in our area. Each of them had something that I couldn’t reconcile with our parenting and homeschooling style. Some conflicted with our faith, some were boy-led, and another simply had too many undisciplined children. It … Continue reading →