Advice needed--blended Brownie/junior GS Troop

[BuzznBelle'smom]

My co-leaders and I just decided last night that, next year, we'll have a blended Brownie/Junior Girl Scout troop. We just don't want to split up! We'll have 2 juniors and 10 Brownies next year. Has anyone done this? What worked and what didn't? We figure that, as a group, we'll work on similar badges/Try-its. I was also thinking of letting the Juniors work on badges on their own if they wish--we don't let the Brownies do that, and I don't know if the other leaders agree with me. (My take is, they're getting older and should be more independent. The other side is, we don't want them to get competitive. I agree, to a point, but if one girl is ambitious, why discourage her? Not to mention the varying interests.) Anyway, I would love to hear ideas and suggestions from some more experienced GS leaders. I think I'm going to volunteer to head up the junior part of the troop. Please also let me know your "It seemed like a good idea at the time" stories! Thanks!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Will the Brownies be Jrs next year???

 

[janette]

Have the juniors do some of the planning and helping with the brownies. They can earn their badges and many of them are community service. Let them do more on their own work. They can also lead songs and things at the meetings.

 

[December99]

I am a service unit manager in our area and can offer some suggestions. We have a couple of troops that are doing this already and yes, it is okay to combine the troops. They might not be able to be called a troop though, they may have to be called a group. You need to check with your council and membership director or your troop service coordinator to make sure on what you can call them.

Now as far as the meetings, you can do several things - one you can have them work on similar to each other badges/try-its and like Janette said, the juniors can help the brownies. However, you may need to also check with your council on this. Our council has a thing called "Step Into Action" and there is a class that the girls have to take first and then they can earn "hours" toward patches, etc. Another thing is there is now a Bronze Award that the Juniors can earn and working with other troops can be something that they can do to earn their Bronze Award (this was put into action due to Cadettes and Seniors have awards they can earn and Juniors are old enough to take on some responsibility to be able to receive an award themselves.

The juniors can and should be encouraged to work on badges themselves. Brownies can to an extent - such as if you are working on a badge and the families do something or the kids do something in school that pertains to that badgework, the requirements can go towards it if needed. But we had our juniors work on almost all of their badges at home - or at least a portion. But be careful, as they get that age, badgework tends to feel like "homework" to them unless they are really commited. One thing you can do is see if a park district or forest preserve will do badgework with your girls - that sometimes is the best because they do all the planning and they have the resources and sometimes the encouragement that will keep the girls enlightened to finish the badgework. Somethings you may find that only your juniors can do and only your brownies can do. In that case you may have to have separate meetings or work around that for that item.

Also another thing you need to think of is if your council has badge workshops for the girls - you have to watch that separation time too.

Good luck and have a great scouting year!!!

 

[Dream]

There are lots of mixed level troops around here and it seems to work well! The Juniors can earn their "Junior Aide" award by working with the younger girls and that will certainly make bridging easier for the brownies when the time comes. I do feel that first year Juniors still need LOTS of guidance and their own program....tha brownie stuff is WAY old by bridging time! It sounds like you will have a leader witheach group which works out well when the programs need to differ. I don't know how big your meeting place is but it's really neat for the girls to do an opening ceremony together, snack together if you do that and then it would be natural to split up into different areas for badge work. They can re-group for the closing of the meeting. Good luck!! Many leaders find this to be a great set up! Do you get Katie Barron's online Girl Scout leader newsletter? It is an awesome resource and there a many multi-level troop leaders there. PM me with your email and I will send you Katie's address!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Thanks for your input! I found out yesterday that we also have a more established junior troop that wants to teach our girls the ropes, which is wonderful--they invited us to their Halloween party and want to do a joint winter camping trip (one night in a lodge w/ plumbing and electric--more like a big slumber party, and a good "first time" for our girls!). We still feel like we're getting the feel of Brownies, and to now have Juniors on top of it--well, it's a little overwhelming. I was going to get the training this fall, but I think I have to wait. I will at least buy the Junior books now, though, to re-familiarize myself with the routines. It's been a LONG time since I earned a Junior badge!