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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 09 2008 at 6:59pm | IP Logged
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I just found out about Juliette's which is a way to do GSA independently ... I know my Maggie (who is painfully shy!) would love to do all the GS stuff without having to meet a whole slew of girls ... and I personally like the idea of being able to have her focus on things we agree with rather than a focus on cookie sales, etc.!
Has anyone done this? Does anyone know about this program at all? There's a group of Christians starting up a monthly meeting in NoVa, but I thought I'd ask here for advice, comments or warnings! 
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MaryG
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CatholicMommy
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When I was in college, I worked with 3 Catholic homeschooled girls who wanted to do independent Girl Scouts - I served as their advisor. Once in a while, they came together, but mostly they wanted to pursue their own interests. It was really great fun, but you really have to decide if Girl Scouts is really what you want to be part of. There were some things coming out at that time that prompted me to pull out of Girl Scouts altogether, at least for that time being - girl power stuff, in addition to the support of planned parenthood and similar. Two of the girls stayed with it through earning their Gold Awards - one of the girls stopped shortly after I did for different reasons. She continued doing activities and such, but just literally on her own, without the connection to Girl Scouts as an organization.
In the end, I love the interest project patches and combined with boy scout books and others, they provide excellent guidance and focus. We have a few different versions of both boy/cub and girl scouts books for project ideas over the years.
There are the religious awards as well which are really neat....
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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 09 2008 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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Here's a bit more info:
Quote:
I called the local Council and talked with them about the Juliette's
program. {Juliettes = Independent}. It's very simple - You send in
a form w $10 and you are registered. Then you work w your daughter
{like HS} and you can get together w other Juliette's for activities
and such. The benefit of this is it's all age-inclusive, whereas
otherwise it's segregated by age/grade. So moms w more than 1
daughter can join. Yes, you can be a Juliette AND participate in
cookie sales and camps and other GSA events. Adults do NOT have to
attend any GSA training.
We attend St Paul UMC in Woodbridge { G Street & Occoquan Rd} and
they have offered us a room for Thurs evenings {7pm-8pm?}. However
there may be an issue once a month {if someone would like to host at
their home once a month?}. This is where our Cub Scouts meets and I
have a key so access won't be an issue.
Here's the link for the Juliette's application. They said to print
out a BLANK form. You want "click blank girl form." There is no
Troop number, just write Juliettes. :
Greater Nation's Capitol Group
Then mail the application w $10 to :
Manassas Office
8421 Dorsey Circle, Suite 101
Manassas, VA 20110
There is nothing online for our Council about Juliettes, but here is
something I did find :
(a GSA in Illinois)
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MaryG
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Mary G
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CatholicMommy wrote:
| There were some things coming out at that time that prompted me to pull out of Girl Scouts altogether, at least for that time being - girl power stuff, in addition to the support of planned parenthood and similar. |
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These are the things that worry me about going into an established group .... and in addition, the heavy focus on selling cookies to the exclusion of all else makes me  ! My SIL had her 5 girls in and had to stop because all the focus was on "how many boxes sold"!
catholicmommy wrote:
There are the religious awards as well which are really neat.... |
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And there is so much benefit to having achieved in Girl Scouts ... both from the learning aspect but also the recognition that goes beyond the local to the national arena. I was at a 4H meeting this weekend that has gotten me really thinking about how much these national associations, GSA, BSA, Young Marines and 4H (to name just a few) really matter later on for the kids ....
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MaryG
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folklaur
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We are Juliette Scouts!
We attend events put on by our council, (like coming up we are doing an Aquarium trip, Trunk or Treat in October, Camporee, etc.) No weekly meetings (tho my dd would love that, we have one car, DH works afternoons/nights, and I just don't want to take on being a Leader myself right now.) I like it like this. Plus, this way one of us ALWAYS gets to attend with her.
There is even a badge/patch that just Juliettes can get.
So far, so good 
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Angi
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Juliette and cookie sales varies by council, some allow it, others do not.
My neice was a Juliette when she lived here. She was a Cadette, and worked on patches. She would have also been allowed to participate in council events if she wanted.
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guitarnan
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We are in a local homeschool troop - so far we've only sold cookies (in a very non-pressured way) one year out of three.
Now I'm the Junior/Cadette leader (sigh) and so that means we'll be focusing on the good stuff...life skills and Girl Scout traditions and Scouting around the world...and ignoring some of the "fluff."
I do like the idea of national recognition of Girl Scout service and awards...definitely not happy with the complete career-oriented approach, but I've found over the last few years that you can work around a good portion of that. We'll see how things evolve - if the national organization goes completely radical, I'll have to bow out, I suppose.
(Just an aside...Boys Life magazine, the Boy Scouts' official pub, has a Bible heroes comic strip every month. Definitely cool.)
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ahappyheart
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We decided to go with Little Flowers Girls Club. It is just my Mom, me and my two girls. Our first meeting is this Friday. I like how it is set up, the girls learn about Saints and virtues and earn badges. I found and purchased the club materials at http://members.aol.com/EcceHomoPr/EcceHomoPress.html
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Mary G
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There's also Pilgrims of the Holy Family which the MacArthurs put together (Nancy is the one who often runs CHC tables at conferences and her dh is English prof at St. Thomas in Houston). It's a great program ... but again, I realy like the national recognition and understanding of GSA or BSA .... 
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MaryG
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KristinaP
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Mary, do you know anything specific about the group starting up? Are they specifically for homeschoolers? Although, my daughter attends the local parish school and we did GS there, we were hoping for something a little more active and less "materialistic" this year.
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JodieLyn
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There's also American Heritage Girls
We have boy scouts (well cub scouts) starting up again, and I was at their website to clarify what ages can be cub scouts (mommy was right! ) and I happened to check into what "Venturing" was and did you know it's for both boys AND girls? 14-20yr olds.. but that's not that far off.. only 3 years for my oldest girl with a boy right behind her. Which made me consider what there was for girls until then once again.. and so I was just sighing over AHG website again.. nearest established troop is 5 hrs away.. I was looking at how much would be needed to start a troop. And lot of work unless I could find others who would be really interested in helping.. maybe I'll start checking the families that are involved with scouts.. maybe some of them with girls would rather have something more like boy scouts than girl scouts (different organizations).
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Matilda
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I think the boy version of Juliette Girl Scouts is called Lone Scouts for those with boys who don't have access to a troop. Just FYI.
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folklaur
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JodieLyn wrote:
There's also American Heritage Girls
We have boy scouts (well cub scouts) starting up again, and I was at their website to clarify what ages can be cub scouts (mommy was right! ) and I happened to check into what "Venturing" was and did you know it's for both boys AND girls? 14-20yr olds.. but that's not that far off.. only 3 years for my oldest girl with a boy right behind her. Which made me consider what there was for girls until then once again.. and so I was just sighing over AHG website again.. nearest established troop is 5 hrs away.. I was looking at how much would be needed to start a troop. And lot of work unless I could find others who would be really interested in helping.. maybe I'll start checking the families that are involved with scouts.. maybe some of them with girls would rather have something more like boy scouts than girl scouts (different organizations). |
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Actually, starting an AHG troop wasn't really that hard. We needed a charter (parish did that.)
I really, really, really like the AHG program tremendously. BUT - they do not have an independent program set up.  and so that really isn't an option, as I am not in a position to start another troop.
And, one reason I like GS (more so than just doing Little Flowers, or Pilgrims...) is being able to do things like march in the Memorial Day Parades, etc. Even as an independent Scout, you can do that with Council.
I like LF & BK too, and do that also as an RE supplement of a sort (we put the flowers / shields on a banner.)
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JodieLyn
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why couldn't they be in a parade?
I don't think it's so much hard to start up as time consuming.. small, relatively "poor" area.. may be difficult to find people to help or donations or anything like that.
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folklaur
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JodieLyn wrote:
why couldn't they be in a parade?
I don't think it's so much hard to start up as time consuming.. small, relatively "poor" area.. may be difficult to find people to help or donations or anything like that. |
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i'm sorry. of course they could. I just meant with a nationally recognized organization kind of thing. here all the girls march together with the council flag. that's all i meant. sorry again.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Independent Girl Scouts?
