National Camping School - Cub Scout Style

For anyone who has been following my blog for a minute or more, you know there are some things I talk about more than others.  Scouting is something I talk about a lot!  At the end of Daniels last year of Day Camp during summer 2011, I somehow forgot we were almost to the end of our days as a Cub Scout Family.  That lapse in memory led me to the opportunity to volunteer to be the program director for the next year's Day Camp!  When I finally realized what I had done, it was too late to change anything and to be honest I wouldn't have anyway.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue to work with the younger Scouts and help plan a wonderful adventure for them in the terms of three days of day camp.

I didn't know when I volunteered that I would have to go to a school to learn how to run a day camp.  I figured it would be like anything else I volunteered to do, you just figure it out on your way.   Not so in Boy Scouting, they have training for nearly everything so why should this surprise me?

Last weekend was my time to head off to "camping" school to learn all I needed to build a program for 6-10 year old boys.  My training was held just outside of Kansas City, MO.  I headed up on Friday at 0330 in the morning and commenced to have one of the longest days ever.  They had told us to be prepared to work for long hours but I thought they were kidding.  We went from 9 a.m. - 10 p.m. the first day!  We did get small breaks and hour long meal breaks but still!  Most of our classes were done in the classroom so it involved a lot of sitting!

We were broken in to dens just like we do for our Cub Scouts and I really enjoyed the men and women in my little group.  We were the giraffe den and we had way too much fun. We were such a diverse group in many ways...we had people from all over!  Some from Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri just in our little group!  The level of experience in Scouting all ranged from new to seasoned!  It was great to get to know everyone and share ideas.  The processing of the things we learned were evaluated by having us plan a day camp with different scenarios for each den.  We spent a lot of time working on that and I think we had the best presentation!

I really enjoyed my time there even if it was long hours in the classroom.  I learned a lot and met some great people!  Can't wait to do it again in 5 years!