Parents and Scouts,

Yesterday we started the Family Life Merit Badge. There were 12 scouts in attendance for this Eagle required merit badge. I do not have an email address on all the scouts or all the parents so I would ask the SPL to ensure that all the scouts listed below receive this information.

Nick Stephan
Robin Cole (has not joined yet but attended, no email address)
Hunter Arndt
Ryan Mackson
Justin Haimovici
Colin Haimovci

Jeremy Dial

Nikolas Torraca
John Hall
Shinichi Granneman
Max Petrunza (no parent or scout email address)
Jordan O'Connor

In the class we completed items 1 and 6a. We also completed 7a & 7b, but not all scouts showed me their work for 7a & 7b.

The following scouts need to show me their work for 7a & 7b.

Nick Stephan
Robin Cole
Hunter Arndt
Ryan Mackson
Justin Haimovici
Jeremy Dial.

The scouts are to complete the remaining items at home.

Item 2 is the scouts listing why they are important to their family. I am not looking for single words or bullets. I am looking for a well written paragraph that clearly show their importance.

Item 3 it the tracking of 5 chores that the scouts are required to do at home for 90 days. The chores do not have to be done everyday, but the scout has to keep a log of the days they completed the chore. The scout must get a signature from the parent on number 3 before I will except this as complete.

Item 4 is a project that the scout must complete. This is something that they do not normally do, and it must be something that benefits the entire family. The scout must obtain the parents approval and notify me when they have your approval. I need to be notified before they start the project. This is to ensure that when they submit the report on the project, I can be sure that they haven't changed it. If the project needs to be changed for any reason, i just need a simple email from the parents staing they authorized the change in the project.  I gave an example of detailing mom or dads car. This benefits the entire family because maintaining the car helps the car maintain it's value which benefits the entire family financially.

Item 5 is a project that the family is required to do together. The scouts only need the parents approval on this one and then they need to write up the following:
The Objective or goal of the project.
How individual family members participated in the project.
The results of the Project.

Item 6 is about family meetings. We covered how to conduct a family meeting (notes attached). Now they are required to conduct family meetings about the following subjects. I do not recommend sitting down and covering all the subjects in one meeting. I recommend doing one item per week, and some items may need more than one week to complete:

1. Avoiding substance abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, all of which negatively affects your health and well being.
2. Understanding the growing-up process and how the body changes, and making responsible decisions dealing with sex.
3. Personal and Family finances.
4. How to deal with a crisis situation within the family.
5. The effect of technology on your family.

I provided each scout with a copy of the worksheet. They can keep track of their progress of all items on this sheet.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. Also, as the scouts complete items, they can make arrangements with me to get their items checked off on their blue card. I will have their blue cards available for them on Tuesday.

Yours in Scouting

Kevin Haimovici
Merit Badge Counselor