Merit Badges are one of the methods of Scouting
What do Patrol Unity and merit badges have in common? Well, that depends on you, Patrol Leader. Does your patrol have one thing in common you would all like to work on? (An Eagle required badge or a fun badge like Pets?) For ideas, check out this cool website from a couple of Eagle Scouts who earned EVERY merit badge!
With summer fast approaching, there are lots of opportunities for your patrol to work TOGETHER on a merit badge. And many parks and councils team up to provide opportunities to meet with merit badge counselors.
You have about 15 minutes per week for Patrol meetings during the regular troop meeting, plus you could meet up on a Friday after school at your house (or another Patrol member’s house). Each member of the patrol can present information from the merit badge book to the rest of the patrol. Over 3 or 4 meetings, you can cover a lot of ground. Then fill out the worksheets together and even attend the workshops together. Remember that each Scout must show their counselor that they learned the information as an individual – you won’t be able to “test” as a patrol. But you can definitely prepare together…
A challenge you might face is that you have to start planning now. Summer is a great time to work on this stuff, but schedules fill up fast… both for Scouts and for the workshops.
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