Thoughts on Homeschooled Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts

This article was published today by Scouting magazine, a print publication (with related web content) sent to all Cub Scout and Boy Scout volunteers. As a Scouting volunteer (in my seventh year of service), I receive this publication.

I read this online article today which I actually found through my Google news feed for keyword "homeschooling". Overall the article is positive and seeks to inform Cub Scout Packs that homeschooled children should be tapped for Scouts. It is less enthusiastic about asking busy homeschool parents to volunteer with the organization.

If I had written this article I may not have said that to increase enrollment with homeschooling families should make extra effort to contact homeschoolers directly. Instead I would have said that Scout Leadership NOT do all communications through the public school.

Also any efforts that can be done at meetings to promote socialization with the Scouts who know each other from school to not only socialize with their cliques would be appreciated. It is best for children to learn to socialize with people they don't know and this includes the schooled children being friendly to the homeschooled and private schooled kids. Remember it is usually the homeschooled child usually joins a Den or Troop knowing NO ONE. If that is not brave, I don't know what is. Once a homeschooler is in the organization he should be welcomed not allowed to be ostracized.

In my area lots of kids are privately educated yet the parent-volunteers whose children are enrolled in the public school choose to only communicate through venues such as mention registration events in the PTA newsletter or by distributing flyers through the public school. In a Den of six Cubs, we had two homeschooled, one in parochial school, one in an academic-focused private school, one in a private school for learning disabled kids, and one in public school. Yet the Den Leader who was also the Cubmaster only communicated through the public school venues.

Over time I felt this was a problem with the Pack I volunteered with and my complaints fell on deaf ears. If our Den had 5 out of 6 kids not in public school and the Pack wanted to enroll new Scouts it was clear we had to be more inclusive. The Packs should reach out to the entire community by focusing on more public invitations such as signs placed in the town (usually these are given out for free by the Council) and by mentions in the local town newspaper. If the town has a free local paper that is a great way to publicize since every household receives it. If you know the town only has paid newspapers you should be sure to focus on signage in key locations in town since not everyone may subscribe to that newspaper.

Homeschoolers are always on the lookout for new opportunities, their eyes are always peeled for information, if you publicize it well to the entire community they will hear about it.

The comment about homeschoolers being able to "build their life around" Scouting is a bit much. I believe we do have more flexibility such as if we have to meet a deadline to finish assignments for requirements or a rank we can put more time to it if we make it a priority. Also a number of the activities that are assigned to do together as a family are already done by homeschooling families in normal family life such as cooking together, planning meals together, and playing board games. Going to a museum, reading an American folktale, or even building a model rocket, are commonly done as part of their homeschool academics so these requirements are quickly fulfilled without ANY extra effort!

I also feel the larger issue is that many homeschoolers are usually "all in" -- when we choose to commit to something we want to do it right.

We homeschool parents are responsible people; after all, we have taken on the huge responsibility to educate our own children. Our children learn by their parent's example. So when our children commit to Scouting we homeschooling parents want to help our children see them through their obligation. We try to meet deadlines and we are here to help our child complete their requirements.

I'm surprised the article downplayed homeschool parents as volunteers. In the Packs and Troop we've been involved with since 2003, homeschooled parents have done volunteer work and often BOTH the mother and the father were involved. Positions included: Cubmaster (2), Assistant Cubmaster (2), Pack Secretary, Pack Committee Member, Den Leader (3), Assistant Den Leader (1), Troop Advancement Chair, and Troop Committee Member.

The activities of Scouting are educational, skill-building, or character building and all the activities done for requirements are worthwhile experiences. Homeschooling parents usually won't complain about requirements for rank, or try to weasel out of doing them by complaining that the child is too busy or making a judgment that the activity is stupid or is old-fashioned. Instead we teach our children to follow-through and to see the good that comes of learning something new, to look on the bright side.

What homeschoolers need to know about Scouting is that while there is an official BSA program each Pack and Troop has their own flavor. Due to the fact that the programs are run by people, there are differences due to the varied leadership styles of the volunteer adults running the program. If you hear something bad about a Pack or Troop, keep an open mind and look for a different chartered organization rather than not join at all. If the organization you are enrolled with has issues, consider finding a different Pack or Troop.

Of lesser concern to me in this article is the mention that homeschool families tend to be larger than other families. This is a common stereotype. That may or may not be true in Texas where the writer is. Here in Connecticut this seems to not be the case. While I do know one family with six kids and one with eight, the majority of families I know have two or three children and there are a number of singletons.

What Scout volunteers need to know about homeschoolers is we are a varied bunch, we come in all shapes and sizes and we should not be stereotyped. Some children start off in school and are pulled out to homeschool, some start out homeschooling and wind up in school and some have always been homeschooled. We each have different reasons for homeschooling and there is no reason to try to categorize or pigeon-hole us.