Cub Scout Nova Award

A few weeks ago I discovered an award for scouts that is right up our ally- the Nova Award. This can be earned from Wolf Scout (the second rank in Cub Scouts) all the way through Boy Scouts and Venturing. I'm not sure how it works for the Boy Scouts since I don't have one but I do have the book for the Cub Scouts so anything I may be typing is in regards to that age group.

Basically what it is the BSA is trying to encourage the boys to learn more about the STEM subjects- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. You can see why I'm so excited. There is also the Supernova Award that Babalu will be earning (Rookie is a Tiger and isn't old enough to begin his Nova work) for Cub Scouts and a separate one of Webelos (that he will be earning next year). It is a more in depth look at the STEM subjects and when he is a Webelo it has to be done under the direction of a mentor. Thankfully the Cub Scout award can be done with me.

For Babalu's Nova journey he has decided to begin with the science and engineering awards. I told him that he will get school credit for the work so he is excited about it. Next year he will work on the technology and math awards. It is a lot of work but he is determined to see it through. Plus he gets a really cool patch. When we plan all the work out hopefully I will be able to blog again about it.

*Sorry Mom for not blogging more*

Update

The blog has been pretty quiet (sorry, Mom!). Life has been getting in the way of blogging and even schooling (illness and injury). Here are some things I'm planning for the next few months-

• Christmas Around the world Unit Study (our main focus in December!)
• Poetry Unit Study 
• Fairy Tales Unit Study
• Alamo Unit Study (since we are going to see the Alamo on our trip to Texas in February)

We had our awesome trip to Las Vegas. I highly recommend the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and the Titanic artifact exhibition at the Luxor to people with kids (although only the Titanic exhibition if your child is interested and can handle the museum atmosphere). The Shark Reef was a blast for all of us, Snuggle Puppy especially loved it. We live 6 hours from Vegas and we only did 1 night so it was a very long two days but Snuggle Puppy did great in the car. He even used the potty! The whole way there and back! And has been using it consistently, even when he is in underwear and away from the house! Except for #2. I won't walk about that, though.

I want to throw a shout out to the Las Vegas Hotel. Their casino is smoke free so when you are eating at the buffet (which we did for dinner, we wanted the kids to experience a Las Vegas buffet) you aren't tasting smoke. Also it is off the strip a bit if that is important to anyone. The only down side was that the 2 beds in the room were doubles and not queens as is normal in hotels. But over all a nice stay. The wind in the morning when we were going back the car was so strong that poor Snuggle Puppy couldn't walk straight. Thankfully he didn't mind Mommy having to carry him.