Our adventures in scouting

Since I have not had the chance to write anything about scouting, this seems like a good time since Andrei just transitioned from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. We originally joined Cub Scouts because our friend worked it out so both boys can attend on the same day and because we thought it would be a good idea to get the boys into an American activity with American boys. Ilya joined Wolfs and Andrei joined Arrow of Light so Ilya is the oldest in his den and Andrei is the youngest.

Ilya is really enjoying the Cub Scouts. It really seems that getting the badges the the belt loops is a great motivator for him to read and do the assignments. The requirements are very structured and organized so Ilya can do most of them on his own with a little guidance from me and an occasional drive to things like botanical garden. The Wolfs have 5 requirement adventures and they include things like learning about American flag, learning about God (very open vague adventure), physical activities, obviously camping and more. Then as a den they also did 3 additional adventures like learning about germs, paper airplanes and dinosaurs. Then to add on top of that - Ilya choose 3 additional activities to do on his own where he grew a plant, visited botanical garden, learn about coding and air dynamics. He also got a Russian and a German translator strip. It seems like a lot (and it kind of was) but from the very beginning I told Ilya that this is not something that I will fight with him about, it is not something I will argue over, it is something that is supposed to be fun! I had to remind him that a couple of times when he had trouble understanding a requirement and that I am happy to explain something to him as long as there is no whining and/or frustrations. He choose a summer time activity that is definitely pretty involved and he can't do all of it on his own (includes hikes, learning about some outdoor activities, swimming) but looks fun and he might also choose to do some science activities that are also a bit busy so summer time might be a good time to do it or at least take an in depth look and understand whether Ilya has interest in those. So in summary - Cub Scouts have been a very good match for Ilya!

Andrei joined AOL which is the last year of Cub Scouts so he had to make up some stuff to be able to join Boy Scouts. His assignments were harder and he had to spent more time working on his projects; however, this past weekend Andrei transitioned from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and as part of that transition he went with his den/patrol to Luxemburg. Originally, we all planned on going but when I looked at the proposed schedule I realized that Anton and I would spent all the cool activities in the hotel either sleeping or doing something on our own. The actual transition ceremony started a bit after 9PM and went until midnight. Looked fun but not realistic to keep Anton awake for so long (not was it really necessary). Camping was next to the American cemetery and the boys had to clean the grave stones The absolutely worst part of that trip was that camping ground is right under all kind of birch trees and neither Chris nor Andrei could easily breath because of their allergies. (Side note: allergies are absolutely horrible this year!). While we have Cub Scouts somewhat figured out, Boy Scouts is a whole new beast with different rules, adventures but Andrei is excited.