Last week I attended my local Girl Scout Volunteer Meeting (it is no longer just for leaders, but who else would go?) I always look forward to our first meeting and getting geared for my troop’s first gathering of the year.
One of the biggest items on our agenda was the new Journeys Program. In previous posts and articles about the Girl Scouts Journeys Program, I have expressed my opinions about the changes. Many of the leaders were a bit confused by it all, except for the new Daisy leaders who do not know anything different.
Photo from Pixabay
What amazed me is that the new program books cannot be found-they are sold out everywhere. The kicker is they may not be available for a few months. Even the Service Unit leaders did not have a copy!
So what is a leader to do?
One Brownie leader at my table asked if we should just do crafts and “fun stuff”, and she was told to do that. Sigh. If you want change, then be prepared for it!
My girls will be doing a fun craft this week at our first Brownie meeting of the year like we always do, and then we will be doing Try It Patches that I have bought over the summer. I will not just do crafts for the sake of doing something. We will continue to earn Try Its and do the things Brownies used to do until this whole mess is sorted out.
How is the new program going with you? Do you like it? Why? Why not?
I am a brownie leader in the midwest.
I am excited about the new program on the whole. Getting back to the basics and away from the “fun patch” for everything mentality. I like that the girls are individually accountable for what they do as badge work too.
However, the execution is lacking. We are fortunate enough to have the newest journey available in our council. And the badgebooks are trickling in. However, the suplemental packs….no idea when they’ll arrive. And the new troop crests (that my troop is drooling over)….again, none in sight. sigh
On a possitive note. There are samples of all the new books in our council store. It isn’t uncommon to see a line of leaders sitting on the floor in the store, copying down activities from the new books. Gotta do what you gotta do, right.
I do not like the journey program at this age level (nor for Daisies). It’s confusing and not laid out well. There aren’t clear cut objectives, just “sample plans” to follow. And only 1 per session at that. My girls aren’t that thrilled either. I do believe, if they have the suplemental badges to work on in conjunction with the Journey, it would be a different story.
30+ years in scouting and I feel so lost with these Journeys.
I never intended to do journeys but I want our troop to be an honor troop this year so I was forced into it. I ended up only buying one book and I’m going to try and work some of the activities into the year we already have planned.
I’m not impressed and I think in the future, we’ll just do what we do (which is being awesome) and pass on the journeys. I guess some leaders need the guidance to have interesting meetings but I felt like Google was a much better planning tool for me and my troop.