[Darin McGrew]

Is there a place where we can discuss the use of the forum itself?

For example, I’m trying to find a way to search for new content posted to the forum since the last time I was here (both new posts and new replies to old posts). This has been an important feature on other forums that I have participated in.

[Darin McGrew]

We’ve started planning in August, with Brigade starting in September after Labor Day. When we’ve tried to plan earlier than that, there hasn’t been enough urgency to keep everyone sufficiently motivated.

We do like to have a “debriefing” of some sort at the end of the year, including a soft commitment for who is returning in the fall.

[Darin McGrew]

This would be a great idea! One of the things I’ve observed in our Battalion, both on camping trips where we had the boys cook, and in preparation for the Camporal meals, is that a lot of boys didn’t even have the basic skills for cooking at home. We were trying to teach them how to cook on a camp stove, and they didn’t know how to cook at all.

[Darin McGrew]

I haven’t seen the Siege Weapons unit, but our Battalion built a trebuchet a few years ago. I think we used the plans here:

http://www.stormthecastle.com/trebuchet/Fast-easy-tennis-ball-trebuchet-part-1.htm

[Darin McGrew]

One of the techniques that has helped us memorize longer passages (in particular, the Camporal scripture memory passages, which can be an entire chapter, or 15-25 verses from a longer chapter) has been to start at the end and work forward.

That is, memorize the last sentence. Then add the sentence before that. Then add the sentence before that, and so on.

One advantage of this approach is that as you recite the passage, you move into sections that are more and more familiar, because you’ve been working on the end the longest.

Another is the psychological commitment to memorize the whole thing. Our Camporal scripture memory rules gave partial credit for reciting the early verses and then stopping, but not for skipping the early verses and reciting only the later verses. (I don’t think this is still true though.) The result was that it was a lot easier to finish memorizing back-to-front, because you wouldn’t get credit if you didn’t memorize the beginning of the passage. Where if you memorized front-to-back, you could stop partway through and get partial credit.

[Darin McGrew]

With our previous Battalion, we encouraged the boys to choose their own mentors. One boy actually completed the Explorer unit from Adventure Trails. His mentor was a family friend, if I recall correctly.

With our current Battalion, we’ve been using the Adventure Trails with our Battalion as a (small) group, doing one Action Step per meeting, and using the Action Steps for a meeting or two between our other units (now called “missions”).

It’s a struggle to use Adventure Trails, especially in a small Battalion where the adults are already at their limits.

[Darin McGrew]

When we taught the Small Engine unit (Battalion Leader’s Guide, Book 5), we were able to get 2 dead lawnmower engines from a local repair shop. While we weren’t able to see them working, it was great to let the boys take them apart while we discussed the various parts and what they did, with no worry about whether the engines would work when we put them back together again. (We also discussed what went wrong with the engines, and why it wasn’t practical to repair them, and hence, why they were given to us.)

[Darin McGrew]

For our online meetings, we’ve used online games:

https://skribbl.io/
Like Pictionary but no teams and everyone plays at once.

https://codenames.plus/ or https://www.horsepaste.com/
Codenames (assumes you have an online chat of some sort for the clues and team discussion).

Other online board/card game options include:

https://dominion.games/
Dominion (a deck-building game)

https://boardgamearena.com/
Various, including Saboteur (but we couldn’t get two brothers who share the same IP address into the same game)

It is also possible to play normal board/card games online, for example:

Incan Gold (a “push your luck” game)
The person with the game announces the new card revealed each turn, and the players declare their intentions each turn by typing either “explore” or “return” into the chat window, and hitting Return simultaneously.

The Captain Is Dead (a fully cooperative game based on your favorite sci-fi show)
The person with the game points a webcam at the board, including each player’s hand (which is public knowledge). Players take turns normally, announcing their actions. The person with the game moves the bits around accordingly.