Merit Badge Counselor for Personal Management

[hawkeyefile]

Hi, my troop decided that it would be a good idea for me to take on a few meritbadges. This being one of them. I've heard of meritbadge counselor workbooks. In fact I downloaded one from google for Citizenship in the World. I was wondering if any of you could point me to the same thing for Personal Management.

[ASM-142]

Worksheets are available on www.meritbadge.com. However, the content of the MB book is the biggest help when working on a MB.

[PaulSWolf]

Worksheets are available on www.meritbadge.com. However, the content of the MB book is the biggest help when working on a MB.

Some of the workbook on this site are a bit out of date. However, there are also 2 series of workbooks which we've kept current at http://usscouts.org/mb/wkbks/list.html .

[hawkeyefile]

I know about those. I'm looking for something like this.
http://www.2send.us/uploads/115dd85530.doc

See how It tells me the answers, what the scouts should do, what I need, etc etc.

[wagionvigil]

I will tell you the same as I told my boys "READ THE BOOK" all the information required for the MB can be found in the Merit badge Pamphlet.
All counselors must make the first requirement Read the MB Pamphlet. This would be an unwritten rule but it is easy. When you talk to the youth tell them what you expect and the first thing you expect before any furthur contact is that read the MB pamphlet.

[deweylure]

I must agree read the book. This applies to scouts and MB counselors.

Since the counselor usually has a working knowledge of the subject area I personally will make notes in my copy of the MB book or I print and make notes on a worksheet available on this web site.


Deweylure

[ASM-142]

I know about those. I'm looking for something like this.
http://www.2send.us/uploads/115dd85530.doc

See how It tells me the answers, what the scouts should do, what I need, etc etc.

As a MBC you should know the answers. As a scout they should know they need to look at the MBC book and not have an answer sheet to work from.

[Chief J]

As a CPA and a Merit Badge Counselor for Personal Management, you will make earning this merit badge easy if you just read the book.

If you read the merit badge pamphlet, the hardest thing you will have to do to earn this merit badge is stay motivated to actually keep track of your income and expenses for the budget requirement.

YIS,
Chief J

[hawkeyefile]

Thank you for your answers. I'm new to this whole thing, so forgive me.

[deweylure]

Good luck and thanks for joining a fine organizatioin.


Deweylure

[ccjj]

The council I am in is in the process of requiring the Scouts to read the Merit Badge book before contacting the counselor. They are also working on training all counselors within their districts.

ccjj

[WVBeaver05]

All counselors must make the first requirement Read the MB Pamphlet. This would be an unwritten rule but it is easy. When you talk to the youth tell them what you expect and the first thing you expect before any furthur contact is that read the MB pamphlet.

The council I am in is in the process of requiring the Scouts to read the Merit Badge book before contacting the counselor.

I like all these comments about requiring Scouts to read the MB pamphlet. I think that is the way it should be. Howver, as I read the advancement rules and MB Councelor rule (i.e. "nothing added, nothing subtracted"), I don't see how I can do that an follow the rules.

Now, I can (and do) tell them that they should read the pamphlet. I also have leveraged a couple Scouts to read it.

They came to me and said, "my dad and I don't know what a family council is so I won't be able to do that one".
I said, "you have to do it to complete the merit badge".
They said, "then you will have to explain it to us"
Me, "have you read the MB booklet?"
They, "no, we don't have one" (Note - the Troop library didn't have one either.)
Me, "you can borrow mine until next week. you will find it in there. I'll discuss anything you don't understand about it after you read it."
Them, "ahh man, why don't you just tell us"
Me, "I'm not working on the MB, and I already know what it is."
Them, "but where is it in the book?"
Me, "It isn't very long, if you read it, you should find it"

They did and I did, and they completed the MB. Did they read the whole MB booklet? I doubt it, but they certainly read more of it than they would have.

What would I have done if they came and said the did the family council without reading the booklet? I would have discussed it with them in some detail and if they did something that met the requirement, I would have signed it off.

Some more info. My requirement for my son is that he read the entire pamphlet. However, I do like the worksheets as a guide and as a tool for organizing the work. I still don't think that they take the place of the pamphlet.

YiS

[Mrw]

I routinely tell boys that want to know about how to earn a badge that they should get and read the MB books and that most of the information is in there that they need to know.

Then they should call the counselor to get started.

[jr56]

I always advise boys who are starting a merit badge to read the pamphlet.

[WVBeaver05]

I routinely tell boys that want to know about how to earn a badge that they should get and read the MB books and that most of the information is in there that they need to know.

I always advise boys who are starting a merit badge to read the pamphlet.

I do the same. I just can't find anything that allows me to require it.

YiS

[wagionvigil]

Hi Mr Scouter I am Joe Scout from troop 007 and I would like to take the BOBO MB from you.
Well Joe I am glad you called. We need to set up an appointment to discuss this MB. I tell you what. As soon as you read the MB Book call me back and we will meet and get this MB under way and finished before you Know it. I will be waiting for your call.

[mhjacobson]

But you still can not refuse to counsel a boy simply because he did not read the pamphlet. I take the approach of letting the scout know that it would be to his advantage to STUDY the MB pamphlet prior to coming to see me about the badge because (and then I tell them) "In my experience as a XXX MB counselor, most scouts who had to come back for a second visit to complete the MB requirements admitted that they did not read the MB pamphlet before coming to see me."

Usually that statement is a strong motivator for the scout to read the pamphlet FIRST. However, my son (who currently has 22 MB) probably has read two MB pamphlets. He takes the worksheets that he gets from USSSP and then looks the information up on the Web. He says that he can get more accurate information than he can find in the pamphlet and learns more, too. Can't argue with that logic.

Could imagine what he would think of a counselor who tells him that he has to read the pamphlet before the counselor will see him.

p.s. remember that the Blue Card containing the Unit Leader's signature is a requirement -- when making your statement, it is important to remind the scout of that fact.