We are now 2-time SpiralScouts drop-outs. Kids like mine don’t take well to sitting down to do anything. Working with them in a group would require re-structuring the entire group (it can be done – I know of Circles who manage multiple kids with multiple special needs, because they structure their entire meeting cadence around managing those conditions). But…that’s a project that I don’t think most groups will take on.
And the other Pagan youth group starting locally doesn’t look like a good fit either. They plan to do a lot of camping, and teaching of wilderness skills. Which sounds great, except that sleeping anywhere other than their beds has been a miserable failure. And….when I commented about special needs, one of the leaders said that they would be open to special needs, because her child is hearing impaired. I like the sentiment, but…they come with different requirements.
Our school is part of a Cub Scouts pack at another school, but I can’t imagine it working any better for my son than SpiralScouts did. I’m still on the fence about Boy Scouts in general, but if it was a good fit otherwise, at this point we might try it out.
So where does that leave us?
Probably on our own. Again. Indefinitely. Because we’re far enough out of the norm to not fit well in most places….
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Billy’s troop at Edmondson has been accepting of his differences so far, they i think even recruited in his class. A few of his EI peers are there. Scouts can be hit or miss, and you have to be able to mentally map “God” to perhaps polytheism, but Becky is doing that with him so far. There’s a few good pagan resources i found on Google for working with BSA as a pagan.
It’s not always that straight forward. It will work in some troops, not others, and, for example, there is a religious award that is not accepted.
And…just sitting and participating is a problem right now…..