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Permies SKIP Scouts

Rebekah Harmon

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posted 6 months ago

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I saw a girl scout cookie booth this week. It reminded me of little Rebekah, all suited up in mint green, working on badges. My daughter asked why we don't do girl scouts?

Now there's several answers to that question. One of them is that there isn't an existing troop in my town. I'd have to go through some work and indoctrination to become a girl scout leader...
But I definitely want to help create some of those campfire memories. With badges!

So, what if... I started a SKIP scout troop? We could carve spoons, build bird houses, pick berries, sell organic cookies... lots of stuff girl scouts and boy scouts do. Even have badge ceremonies and stuff! Maybe some parents will join in?

It's a wild thought. What do you think? Would you join a SKIP scout troop?

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Jeremy VanGelder

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posted 6 months ago

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That's something I want to do. When I taught a handle fitting clinic a few years ago I was looking to see if there was interest in that sort of thing. There is some interest in my community. So I might be able to start a SKIP club next school year.

I imagine the creation of artifacts and approval of badges would all be done in real life. That would get rid of the privacy concern with having pictures of kids on the internet. And it would be some form of PEX. Maybe Permaculture Experience for Scouts? It should be a lot of fun.

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Rebekah Harmon

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posted 6 months ago

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Oh yeah, Jeremy? I was thinking PEA, Permaculture Experiences for Apartments, that's already written, would be an easy program to follow. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel that much. Although. If I were to do a Permacultire Experiences according to Rebekah, it would have a lot more kid-friendly bbs....that might be a down-the-road thing, after a season of trying it out. 🤔

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Anne Miller

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I like your idea, I hope you can pull this idea off with your daughters friends ....

And yes, the PEA would work by just picking out the easier ones.

Here is a thread which list easy ones:

https://permies.com/t/211821/Skip-PEP-curriculum-interactive-kids

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John F Dean

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posted 6 months ago

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Hi Rebekah,

Something like this was discussed a few years ago. It was in the format of a Boot camp for children nearer population centers. I don’t think it went anywhere. You put a nice twist on it that may make it more workable. I am assuming that your suggestion is a meeting that takes place once a week or so

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Rebekah Harmon

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When I was a cubscout leader, (boys ages 7-11) we went through every badge and picked out the handful of requirements we could meet in 90 minutes at our weekly meetings. Yes, weekly! Then we diligently recorded who from the troop did which things, and sent home lists for parents to he able to finish the badges at home.

There are 15 PEA badges, including oddball, which I'm not sure about. Unless we did service projects or camping activites...

I found about 4 in each of the other 14 badge categories that are do-able within one meeting. Thats 56 bbs. If we met most weeks of the year, it would be possible to work through all those badges, with parents making up the other bbs at home. One at home, one at meet upstairs each week could reach PEA1! Then I might have to help sort out a PEA2...

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Rebekah Harmon

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posted 6 months ago

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OR, it could be a summer-only program, and we do 3 bbs a week in a bigger block of time (like 3 hours on a Thursday morning) for 12 weeks, and finish the rest of the 20 or so bbs at a weekend summer camp!

I think I'll lean into that style, instead, since my life gets crazy when fall sport begin and doesn't let up until spring sports are over! Maybe 16 weeks to do all that.

Rebekah Harmon

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posted 6 months ago

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Has anyone here been part of a scout troop? Remember all the little pins or sew-on patches you earned?? How would you do that in a tiny himeade program? Make them yourself? But what if you had to stitch or craft 100 of them?

I remember keeping track of and ordering these do-dads taking a significant amount of my time as a scout leader volunteer.

Also, I think we would need designations besides just badges. BB5, BB10, etc. Could work. What other permie value would be significant enough to put on a vest? Or hat. Or some other article of clothing. Scarf? What kind of permie uniform would you pick??

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Jeremy VanGelder

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When I was young my family did Contenders for the Faith, which was similar to Boy Scouts. Our club kept up with the badges for about 18 months. But it was difficult to order badges and hold award ceremonies so we dropped that part and just built things. I used the first aid kit that I put together for more then a decade. After we dropped the badge part we definitely slowed down on the breadth of topics. But the last project we completed was a two-story movable chicken coop for each family.

Someone has talked about making physical PEP badges. I think woodburning or laser-engraving would make a lot of sense.

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Joylynn Hardesty

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Isn't one of the boots doing laser engraved coasters/ornaments? Maybe they could do something like that. Just two to 4 holes to attach it to a sash?

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Joylynn Hardesty

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I was in a faith based club. We used sashes.

Random pathfinder pic off the net...

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Rebekah Harmon

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Yes, Joylynn, I like sashes. We used them in Cadet (big girl) scouts. Put them on, show off. Take them off, get to work. They kinda get in the way of several tasks.

In a similar idea, I've thought a shoulder bag, with badges attached to the strap like a sash, might be more purposeful. It's a bb to make an oil cloth shoulderbag.

I've also considered an apron, with badges on the shoulders and pockets. A full-bib apron sewn is also a bb.

Finally, overalls might be the more iconic permie-ish gear in which we can attach badges. However, I think they look terrible on me! Big boobs and full bibs... never been cute. But they would probably look cute on the kids. One factor would be price. A new pair of bibs for a uniform would probably be thr most expensive item I'm considering. Im worried they would be cost prohibitive. But maybe I'll ask the parents of scouts.

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Jeremy VanGelder

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Our program prescribed sashes. But we sanded and stained a wood plaque to hang a banner from. Mine and my brother's hung in our entryway for years.

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Nancy Reading

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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Isn't one of the boots doing laser engraved coasters/ornaments? Maybe they could do something like that. Just two to 4 holes to attach it to a sash?

Stephen B. Thomas was making them: https://permies.com/t/267429/Custom-Laser-Cut-Wooden-Items

If you were able to use the images of the existing badges, that might save some work in designing them - not sure if the existing image format would work for Stephen. If you think of them as 'buttons' rather than 'badges' then wood would be rather nice on clothing I think.

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Jeremy VanGelder

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Rebekah Harmon wrote:When I was a cubscout leader, (boys ages 7-11) we went through every badge and picked out the handful of requirements we could meet in 90 minutes at our weekly meetings. Yes, weekly! Then we diligently recorded who from the troop did which things, and sent home lists for parents to he able to finish the badges at home.

There are 15 PEA badges, including oddball, which I'm not sure about. Unless we did service projects or camping activites...

I found about 4 in each of the other 14 badge categories that are do-able within one meeting. Thats 56 bbs. If we met most weeks of the year, it would be possible to work through all those badges, with parents making up the other bbs at home. One at home, one at meet upstairs each week could reach PEA1! Then I might have to help sort out a PEA2...

I was going to pick a few PEP sand badges and shoot for doing those during the meeting. My family has a lot of poles from a timber stand improvement project right now. So we could build quite a few roundwood projects. Wouldn't it be cool to send all the kids home with a club-style mallet after the first meeting? I'd do Roundwood and Tool Care. I have a friend who sews medieval costumes and sells them on Etsy. So he could probably teach Fiber Arts.

But in terms of actually getting to PEP1 or PEA1, and having projects that they can do from home, PEA totally comes out on top.

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Rebekah Harmon

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Wouldn't you know, Nancy? I happened to chat with that Stephen guy this week. I'd be happy to pay him for little wood burnt disks, attached to pins. I'm thinking I want the BB# designations on pins like these:

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Rebekah Harmon

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Totally, Jeremy! I lean towards spoon carving, but mallets would also work, depending upon the wood I can find at the right week. But yeah, bat boxes, lady bug houses, and tin can stoves to cook rice on would all be pretty cool!!

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Rebekah Harmon

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I think, for the air badges, I would have button pins ordered. Little ones, so they aren't expensive. I would need those round images of the badges for that.

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Rebekah Harmon

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Finally, I would love a textile, embroidered for the full badges made. I can order these in bulk, rectangular or round.

Would any permies happen to have an embroidery machine??

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Stephen B. Thomas

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Rebekah Harmon wrote:Wouldn't you know, Nancy? I happened to chat with that Stephen guy this week. I'd be happy to pay him for little wood burnt disks, attached to pins.

Yep! I think I can do something like that. Turns out that the laser cutter is turning out useful for a number of Permies-related projects.

Rebekah, I'll be in touch eventually with a couple prototype designs and maybe a burn or two that will let you visualize how my current wooden blanks might look.

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Nikki Roche

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My daughter is too young for any of the troops, but the time is quickly approaching. I looked at Girl Scout troops recently, and it's just not what I want for her. I'd love something with a more outdoors/permaculture approach. I plan to homeschool her and am looking at ways to include badge-type stuff for it. Love seeing others ideas and how it could be implemented!

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Allan Babb

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posted 5 months ago

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There are sewing machines that can take a computer generated graphic and turn it into a patch. Not sure what your budget is(new one from Brother is ~$500+, for now at least), but you might be able to find someone in the local area that already owns one.

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Rebekah Harmon

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posted 4 months ago

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Here are some mock ups of fabric badges. I think the stiffer fabric turned out better. The cotton stretched and warped. But I like the circle shape better than rectangle.

For sure, Allan, I would like an embroidery machine. I don't have that in my budget. There isn't a budget, really. Not until I decide how much parents should pay for badges. I wouldn't like it to be more than $1.

Anyways! Here is one idea.

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Rebekah Harmon

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Hey Permies! I wanted to report on my first SKIP scouts group! We have a pretty big group, 16 registered. Today 10 were at our first meet-up! We made coat hooks from tree branches. Hopefully, some certification requests come through soon.

Out of my 3 kids participating, 2 will turn in BBs. I wonder what kind of ratio of SKIPPers will come from the bigger group? Parents have given me feedback that getting our projects verified is a bit overwhelming to learn to do. In cub scouts and girl scouts, for example, parents and leaders can check off merit badge pieces at home, so I see what they mean about taking pictures and turning them in seems extra. Some will do it, some won't, I'm guessing!

But for now, I'm feeling pretty good about memories we are making 😁

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Jeremy VanGelder

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That is a really good start, Rebekah! I hope your group just gains momentum.

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Rebekah Harmon

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Exciting news!!
I found an artist who could print the badge images onto leather for us! Her name is Mandie. She printed the sand badges onto soft, white leather about the size of a half dollar coin. I got a few sets printed because I hope more kids earn them besides just me, haha! $15 a set, if you're interested.
I can't WAIT to put them on my overalls!! 🤩

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Rebekah Harmon

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Oh, Mandie's email address is: mandiekimball@gmail.com

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Joylynn Hardesty

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Nice badges!

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
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Rebekah Harmon

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Had another great SKIP scout meet-up today! We worked on a foraging bb. Make 6 teas!

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Rebekah Harmon

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Another terrific skip scout meet up!

We smashed spoons and made plant labels. Everyone liked the smashing. The dremelling was a tough skill for younger kids. But the older ones loved it.

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Rebekah Harmon

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This week's meet-up wasn't well attended. My kids plus 1 cutie. Probably for the best, since we did food prep bbs! Cooked rice all the ways and fried eggs and pancakes. I have a lot of kids with BBs they need help to turn in!

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Nikki Roche wrote:My daughter is too young for any of the troops, but the time is quickly approaching. I looked at Girl Scout troops recently, and it's just not what I want for her.

Look at Scouts America co-ed Cub Scouts for grades K thru 5th. If your kid is older, from 11-18yo, there are non-co-ed Troops out there. Some 'specialize' in high adventure, maritime, security, or general interest. Some Troops are more accepting than others.

Troop 248 was very helpful with my kiddo (Autistic, ADHD, ODD, sensory issues, gastro issues, and picky eater). Other Troops would not have accommodating. For example my kiddo was afraid of water, specifically getting into water. We did occupational therapist got them into a 'large bathtub' size tub. The swimming Merit Badge is usually earned at Summer Camp, in a lake or creek. My kiddo panicked at the thought! Scoutmaster took the troop to a highschool pool and celebrated every milestone for each kid. From blowing bubbles to forward motion to getting across the pool. My kiddo finally passed the beginner swimmer level to go in the wading area at summer camp.

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Rebekah Harmon

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Decent turnout today for our animal care bbs! We made mason bee tunnels and insect watering stations. Some of the younger kids needed help with the drill. All in all, the mason bees in my town should be happier!

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