Feb 10 2009
Girl Scout Cookies and Boy Scout Popcorn
Girl Scouts was one of the most important and most beneficial after school activities that I had as a child, and I am excited about what it is doing in the lives of my own children. I tell parents that are considering home schooling that if they will join Girl or Boy Scouts, they can stay as busy as they want to if all that they do are scouting activities. I don’t know as much about Boy Scouts, since all of my children are girls, but I do know that there are similarities between the two programs such as the devotion to our country, community, and the annual Girl Scout cookies and Boy Scout popcorn sales.
Product sales are fundraisers, but they serve to be a valuable learning tool, especially for those that home school. If the parents will stand back and allow the children to do the selling, they learn safety practices, salesmanship, goal setting, and the math that goes with adding up what a customer owes, giving correct change, etc. There are most often incentive awards that the children can work toward, besides the bigger goals set by the troops such as special trips or parties. After doing this for a number of years, the children gain some wonderful job skills.
My tween is a little bit more introverted and nervous than my teen, and she has always relied on her older sister to help her sell. This year, marks her third cookie sale, and she finally starting approaching customers without the aid of her sister. She sold more cookies than she has sold in previous years, and is very proud of herself. The boost in self esteem is worth a lot in the development of a child, especially one that is being educated at home.
The girls also get a small taste of what it is like to have a business. For example, we need training to know our product, we have to advertise, seek out customers, take orders, pay our cost for the products purchased, deliver the products, determine what to do with profits once they are recieved, deal with the inevitable issue of customers not paying for their orders, and meeting deadlines with order taking and payment due dates.
For those children that have parents that can’t stand to see them fail, then there is a certain amount of education lost from this experience. As the parent, we should be there to make sure that things are done correctly, much like a supervisor, but the children should have their hands on as much of the business as possible.
Home schoolers can and should take advantage of scouting programs available in their communities. The annual registration fee is usually quite small in comparison, and the program can be turned into a complete curriculum if scouting is all that a home schooling family wants to do. It’s free, it’s fun, and the opportunities for learning in every subject are limitless. Badge requirements are the equivalent of unit studies, except that the child receives a badge as a token or reward for a job well done. In some cities, there are troops that are comprised of only home schoolers, and you can find out more about that at your nearest Girl Scout council.
For more information about Girl Scouts, please visit www.girlscouts.org, or www.scouting.org for Boy Scouts.
Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago
