July 2009 Theme Patch
There are now more signs that 2009-2010 is the last year for Cub Scout Monthly Themes:
- The 2009-2010 Cub Scout Program Helps book has no mention of the 2010-2011 themes.
- The 2010-2011 themes have been removed from the BSA National website. Link
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That is a real shame. I guess I’ll be doing the Fast Start program this year then… Might as well go ahead and switch over.
I’m curious how this decision was reached. The monthly themes concept was one of the facets that was emphasized when I attended Strictly for Cubmasters at PTC. Why are we “re-inventing” the wheel by getting rid of this component if it was an integral part of the pack planning process since at least August 1940?
I’m also not too happy about some of the other proposed changes . . . do we really need to extend the age range of Cub Scouts to Kindergarten-age children? When did the concept of Cub Scouts turn into a boy/girl organization? Isn’t that what Brownies/Girl Scouts is for? Let’s stick with the basics and keep the organization healthy and focused, now and for the future!
I think you mean Fast Tracks, not Fast Start.
http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/FastTracks.aspx
My Pack is one of the pilot programs for what we call K-KUBS – for kindergarten aged boys. This was our first year but we were finding that in our town, where “professional” youth sports reigns, getting the boys in kindergarten, when they were too young for organized sports helped us keep them. It worked great and the KKUBS had their own book, which was the Learning for Life Seekers book. Even though we were a LFL group, we did not open it to girls because we would have had to send them to girl scouts at the end of the first year and we didn’t think that was fair.
As far as girls in Cubs go, at this age 5- 9-10, I see from having the siblings with us at summer camp, they are pretty much interchangeable. The boys could care less and the girls just want to do the fun active stuff!
According to the Cub Scout Roundtable planning Guide 2009-2010 (pg 2) “New for 2010-2011: Begining in September 2010 and the 2010-2011 program year, the method of presenting Cub Scout den and pack meetings will undergo exciting enhancements with big benefits for boys, den leaders, and pack leaders. With these enhancements, monthly themes will no longer be used.”
I have mixed feelings about “no more monthly themes”. I like the concept of having monthly themes, but the biggest problem is that whoever comes up with the themes doesn’t pay attention to whether you can pass off requirements and also the themes have nothing to do with the Webelos, so they get left out of the fun most of the time. Hopefully they will come up with something that is much better.
I was reading about the new Cub Scouts 2010 program today and saw this statement in the brochure: “The Roundtable Planning Guide will continue. Cub Scouting’s 12 Core Values will be adopted as our monthly themes.” You can read more at http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/sitecore/content/Scouting/CubScouts%202010/OverviewBrochure.aspx, particularly http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/220-002.pdf. Still watching to learn how exactly this plays out!