Three Merit Badges Requiring 3 Months of Tracking

As a mother of 3 Eagle Scouts, I can tell you that the hardest Merit Badges for Scouts to earn are the three that require 3 months of tracking.  Tracking any one thing for that long is difficult!  Three? Really?

The way we managed this successfully was to track all three together.  Think about doiung all three over the summer when the family could focus a bit better on tracking all three.  Or maybe being in school is a better idea, when routines can easily stick.  Whatever the timing, choose a 3 month block of time that you think you can knock these off.

1.  Familiarize yourself with the requirements by visiting Meritbadge.org and print out summary sheets for each Merit Badge:  Family Life, Personal Fitness, Personal Management

2.  Remember to start each Merit Badge with the approval of your Scoutmaster and Merit Badge Counselor (MBC).  Get a blue card ready and get the Scoutmaster to sign it and you're ready to let the MBC know you are starting.

3. Get a physical examination from a health-care practitioner.  Use the BSA Annual Health and Medical Record Forms. Here's a link:   BSA Annual Health and Medical Forms  (If your forms are up to date-- you've had a physical in the last 12 months-- then you can just proceed.)

4. Print out this Three Month Merit Badge Tracker.  Or make your own.

Adapted from myexcelltemplates.com

As you set goals and work out the daily things you need to track, you can write them in this tracker and check them off daily.  Once you've written down what you are tracking, you can copy it two times so you have three months worth of tracking space.  Consider taping these to the kitchen cabinet or putting them on the fridge so you'll see them daily and won't forget what you need to do to knock out these merit badges.

5. Let's started with Family Life.  Look over the requirements for Family Life-- specifically #3.  Write your chores in the Three Month Merit Badge Tracker under the Family Life section.  If you don't have at least 5 daily chores, work with your parents to choose 5 appropriate chores.

6.  Now let's look at Personal Fitness.  Print out the Personal Fitness MB Tests sheet below and take the fitness tests at the top half of the sheet. Fill in the boxes with your results.  Using that information, devise a fitness plan to improve in each area and discuss it with your Personal Fitness MBC and/or parents.  Use requirement #8 as a guide.  Write the daily exercises in the Don't start on any fitness program until you have gotten approval from your MBC and your parents.

Charts courtesy of Meritbadge.org

Where it describes using a sit and reach box, you can easily measure without one by placing a ruler out from the wall with zero touching the wall.  Put your feet against the wall and reach toward the wall.  Have someone standing above you note where your hands reach on the ruler.

Note that there is a place to record the fitness test information every two weeks.  That's a great way to track your progress towards your final fitness goals.

7.  Now let's work on Personal Management.  Look over the requirements for Personal Management, specifically #2.  Print out a Sample Budget Plan sheet or make one up like it.

Courtesy meritbadge.org

8.  Prepare a budget using the Sample Budget Plan or something like it.  Write in your estimates on the 'weekly' line then multiply that by 4 for your projected monthly amounts in the next columns.  As the months go by, add the 'actual' numbers into the boxes for actual amounts.

Courtesy Paul Murray of maththings.net

9.  Print out the Check Register above or make a similar log sheet.  Count up your piggy bank.  Put the amount in the first line and write it down as 'Opening Balance.' Every time you earn or spend money out of your piggy bank, write it down on the Check Register and do the math to find out how much money is in your piggy bank.  Now using your Three Month Merit Badge Tracker again, write down the categories you think you'll see the most action in,the Personal Management section.  If you spend money, put a minus sign; if you earn money, put a plus sign.  This shows your attentiveness to your budget while the details can be kept on the Check Register.

10.  For the next 3 months, do your chores and exercises, and write down your financial transactions. Meanwhile, consider doing the other requirements in these three Merit Badges, so when you finish the trackers, you can receive the badges at once!

11.  After all is done, meet with your MBC for evaluation.  As with all other Merit Badges, give your signed blue card to the Advancement Leader for awarding.

Armed with this collection of paperwork, you can complete all three of these Merit Badges at the same time with about the same effort as doing one.  Boo-yah!

An Awesome Organizational Binder

Boy Scouts-- it's your job to keep track of your Scout Handbook.  That's the place where you gather all of your signatures and dates for your progress through Scouting.  What if you lose it?  You can have a scout leader recreate the record in a new Scout Handbook if you kept your Rank advancement cards and Merit Badge cards.  But where?

What if there was a binder that had a place for these important papers and more?  Troop 55 came up with a great binder that helped my three older sons organize their stuff.  I want to share it here so everyone who wants this can easily print out each sheet and put it together.  All you need is a white/clear loadable front binder, two sheets of baseball card pocket holders and a color printer.

Download the following images, considering the explanation below each.  Remember that this is your back up plan; your Scout Handbook is the first repository and the one that you'll bring to each of your Boards of Review, including your Eagle.  So leave this binder at home!

This is the outside front cover.  Write your name at the bottom and Troop name and number.

This is the first page.  Don't you love the pictures of adventure?

This is a letter to your parents.  It briefly explains how things work.  Let them read it...

When you get a uniform, this will help you place your patches in the right places.  

 This record sheet is awesome!  Use it to record the important dates in the boxes outlined.  The second page is particularly useful as a back up.  

This might be my favorite sheet of all!  It's a cheat sheet for all you need to memorize as a Scout.  This one will be a big help to you.  Thanks to Cedar Hills Utah Troop 1138 for sharing.  

This is a great 'at a glance' list of the Ranks to Eagle.  I love this because it's so complete and yet it's just one sheet of paper!  This is a great reference for you and your parents.  I found it at utahscouts.org.  

This is another great reference sheet, listing all of the available Merit Badges offered through Boy Scouts of America.  Just love these!  This one is also from utahscouts.org.

At this part of the binder, put in a couple of pages of Trading Card holder sheets. They look like this.  They are the perfect size to hold your Rank Advancement cards and your Merit Badge award cards.

After this, put your Merit Badge pages that are in progress.  That will help you find them when you get back to them.  When you finish them, tuck them into the very back of the stack.  Then you can find them if you need them, but they won't be as important as the ones still in progress that are in the front of the stack.

Consider printing out copies of the Duty to God tracking sheets you use online at lds.org and keeping them in this binder as well.  Again, if you lose your Duty to God book, this will serve as a back up.  Just remember to sign things off in the book and in this binder.  

Also consider putting a copy of your most recent Health and Medical Record in this binder. Then if you need it for another use, it's easily found and copied.  

  I used this as the back of the binder.  It's an amazing statement about how accomplishing great things as a Aaronic Priesthood holder and a Boy Scout will prepare you to be a super Missionary and wonderful leader in the future.  It hopefully will help you remember why we use Boy Scouts as the Activity arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Certainly you can pick and choose which pages you like and want to print out for your binder.  Hopefully you will find this binder helpful to keep track of your important Scouting and Duty to God papers.