Cubmaster Minute

Some years ago a hard-nosed coach said, "Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats whatever's second. " There's some truth in that. Everyone likes to win. Very few people enjoy losing. The trouble is that in every type of competition, there must be losers as well as winners. It's also true in life. You and every other human being find that sometimes you have to be a loser. Perhaps your sports team loses a game on an unlucky break. Or maybe you work hard in school but get low grades. Some people might say you're a loser. Maybe so. But you don't have to stay a loser. The real difference between winners and losers is that a loss makes some people more determined to do better next time. In the long run they are the winners because they learn to profit by their defeats and mistakes. No, winning isn't everything. We can learn from losses, too.

Monthly Theme: Jungle Safari

Help boys discover fun and adventure in the wilds of Scouting. Take them on a month-long safari. Learn why Africa was special to our founder, Lord Baden-powell. Find out how The Jungle Book connects to scouting; use the story and its characters to inspire den meetin games, crafts and costumes for the pack meeting. Learn about the things you need if you're going on a safari and how you would survive. What do Scouts in Africa and india do? What are their uniforms like? Take a trip to a local zoo, animal rescue facility or wildlife refuge. Work on the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award or Wildlife Consevation belt loop and pin.

Some of the purposes of Cub Scouting developed through this month’s theme are:

Preparation for Boy Scouting. Outdoor activities for Cub Scouts help prepare them for the outdoor activities of Boy Scouting.
Spiritual Growth. Cub Scouts are encouraged to explore their spiritual beliefs as they continue advancing up the Cub Scout trail.

The core value highlighted this month is:
Resourcefulness. Boys learn to be resourceful as they learn how they would survive in the wild.
Cooperation. Great tasks require cooperation. Boys will learn to cooperate as they get to know living things.

Pow Wow - Cub Leaders Training

WANTED

Untrained and Undertrained Cub Scout Leaders

Description: These notorious individuals vary in height and weight, and sometimes wear olive pants and tan shirts with blue tabs on their shoulders. During the day they pose as wives or husbands, mothers or fathers and may have sons in Cub Scouting. Once a week they gather in basements, schools, churches, or other meeting places with youth dressed in blue uniforms. Also, they have an interest in character development, citizenship training, physical fitness and fun for America's Boys.

An all day round-up for these notorious adults is planed for the Annandale High School, in Annandale, Virginia on November 21, 2009.

Contact the NCAC Sheriff at powwow@gmail.com.

Cubmaster Minute

A campfire is a remarkable thing. It can be bright enough to light the path back to our tent, and it can be small enough to just barely see. Why is this? It’s because of the fuel that we put into the fire – the logs, the kindling, and the oxygen. Sometimes we Cubs are like the campfire. How strong we are is dependent upon the fuel we receive from our leaders and our parents. The better the fuel, the stronger our personal “campfire’ will be. I encourage you to always challenge your den leaders and your parents to give you the best fuel, or the best program, they can give you.

"Don’t Fight Your Pack"

An excerpt from: “The Book of Camp-Lore and Wood Craft” originally written by Dan Beard in 1920.

When we speak of ‘fighting the pack’, we mean fighting the load; that does not mean getting one’s load up against a tree and punching it with one’s fists or ‘kicking the stuffings out of it’, but it means complaining and fretting because the load is uncomfortable.…the mind has as much to do with carrying the load as the muscles. If the mind gives up you will fall helpless under a small load; if the mind is strong you will stagger along under a very heavy one.

When I asked a friend, who bears the scars of the pack straps on his body, how he managed to endure the torture of such a load, he replied with a grin that as soon as he found that to ‘fight his pack’ meant to perish – meant death!-he made up his mind to forget the blamed thing and so when the pack wearied him and the straps rubbed the skin off his body, he forced himself to think of the good dinners he had had at the Camp-fire Club of America, yum! yum! Also, of all the jolly stories told by the toastmaster and of the fun he had had at some other entertainments. Often while thinking of these things he caught himself laughing out loud as he trudged along the lone trail, FORGETTING the hateful pack on his back. ‘In this way’, said he, with a winning smile upon his manly and weather-beaten face, ‘I learned how not to fight the pack but to FORGET IT! Then he braced himself up, looked at the snow-capped mountain range ahead, hummed a little cowboy song and trudged on over the frozen snow at a scout’s pace.

Now that you know what a pack is, and what ‘fighting the pack’ means, remember that if one’s studies at school are hard, that is one’s pack. If the work one is doing is very hard, difficult, or tiresome, that is one’s pack. If one’s parents are worried and forget themselves in their worry and speak sharply, that is one’s pack. Don’t fight your pack; remember that you are a woodcrafter; straighten your shoulders, put on your scout smile and hit the trail like a man!

If you find you are tempted to break the Scout Law, that you are at times tempted to forget the Scout Oath, that because your camp mates use language unfit for a woodcrafter or a scout, and you are tempted to do the same, if your playmates play craps and smoke cigarettes, and laugh at you because you refuse to do so, so that you are tempted to join them, these temptations form your pack; don’t give in and fall under your load and whimper like a ‘sissy’ or a ‘mollycoddle’, but straighten up, look the world straight in the eye, and hit the trail like a man!

Some of us are carrying portage packs which we can dump off our shoulders at the end of the ‘carry’, some of us are carrying hiking packs which we must carry through life and can never dump from our shoulders until we cross the Grand Portage from which no voyagers ever return. All our packs vary in weight, but none of them is easy to carry if we fret and fume and complain under the load."

What great words of wisdom, that we can all learn from as we carry our "packs" on hikes and through life.

Monthly Theme: Cub Scout Pockets

What can possibly be in a Cub Scout's pocket? What is in a boy's pocket can tell a lot about who he is and what he likes.The boys can share and show off their collections and maybe even start a new one! Put some marbles in the boy's pockets and teach him how to play the game of marbles. Pick an interest of the boys and go on a field trip to explore and learn about it. Maybe a trip to a rock quarry in search of fossils, or a nature hike around the den meeting site to pick up items. This is also a great month to educate the boys on what can go on their uniform and then make some goals to accomplish their rank advancement, special awards, belt loops and pins, and involvement in camps and council events. This might be a good month to work on the Collecting or Marbles belt loopand pin.

Some of the purposes of Cub Scouting developed through this month’s theme are:

Family Understanding, Cub Scouts and their family members share memories through their collections.
Personal Achievement, Boys take pride in their new interests and collections.
Fun and Adventure, Starting a new hobby is an adventure that can lead to hours of FUN

The core value highlighted this month is:
Honesty: While enjoying and sharing their hobby of collecting, the boys will learn the importance of being trustworthy and loyal.
Cooperation: Cub Scouts will find that when they work together with their buddies, they will have lots of new ideas and collectibles to add to their pockets.
Resourcefulness: Cub Scouts have the opportunity to be creative with the treasures found in their pockets.

School Redistricting

At their August 26 meeting, the Board of Education adopted modified Option 2B. The new attendance area will go into effect for the 2010-2011 school year.

View the Option 2B feeder pattern and maps for elementary, middle and high schools.

In the near future, the FCPS will post a Frequently Asked Questions section on their web page to address transportation, phased enrollment and other logistics resulting from the boundary changes. Schools will also receive maps and other helpful information to assist you. In the meantime, you may email OHSredistricting@fcps.org.

These FCPS regulations provide guidance on many of the questions you may have:
http://apps.fcps.org/dept/legal/200.pdf
http://apps.fcps.org/dept/legal/100-02.pdf

Study Area:
As is typical with the opening of a new high school, the study area for this redistricting was large; it encompasses portions of or entire attendance areas for four existing high school "feeders." All of the following schools were impacted by the redistricting.

Linganore HS
Urbana HS
Governor TJ HS
Walkersville HS

Oakdale MS
New Market MS
Governor TJ MS
Walkersville MS
Urbana MS
Windsor Knolls MS

Centerville ES
Deer Crossing ES
Green Valley ES
Kemptown ES
New Market ES
Spring Ridge ES
Oakdale ES
Twin Ridge ES
Liberty ES
Urbana ES
Walkersville ES

(VIDEO) Cub World

Hey all!

Here is the video that the cub world staff made of our time there. If you keep an eye out at the 2:27 mark you can see all of us!

CubWorld 2009 Session 7 from NCAC BSA on Vimeo.

Cubmaster Minute

We are America today!

As we look down the road Americans have traveled, we see that many of their dreams have come true. We see the towns they have built, the bridges they have crossed, the mountains they have climbed. We feel the hardships they endured. We see places where they hammered off the rough edges of their dreams so we would have a better life today.

The pioneers worked out a way of life, a life of personal freedom that held hope for tomorrow. They made history yesterday – but it is up to us to make it today. This is our land. Here, men and women of the past lived and worked and died serving great ideals. These ideals were freedom and justice.

None of us can fail to carry his part of this great dream to his children and to his children’s children. Our land is rich in material goods, but also in history – in living legends of the people who left their mark on America. Our own past speaks to us and as we listen we hear the voice of the past saying, “Hear me now. Courage, endurance and faith built America, and what was built was good. If you build the same way, the future will also be good.”

Monthly Theme: Fun in the Sun

Let's go outside and have some fun in the sun!!! It is a great time for a pack to have a picnic at the park, or travel to a historic place. The Cub Scouts and their families will get to know the new families and welcome them to the pack. Everyone will enjoy great picnic food, fun games, and wonderful fellowship.

Some of the purposes of Cub Scouting developed through this month’s theme are:
Sportsmanship & Fitness, Cub Scouts will develop good sportsmanship while participating in outdoorgames.
Fun and Adventure, Cub Scouts will have fun being out doors and learning how early American's lived.
Family Understanding, Cub Scouts and their families will spend a fun-filled day out with everyone else.

The core value highlighted this month is:
Respect. Boys learn to respect nature as they learn how to take care of it.
Health and Fitness. Spending time outdoors is important to physical and mental well-being. Cub Scouts learn that playing games and being active is a fun way to be fit.