You must have been reading my mind. I've been trying to get information on the Journeys (I'm also a Jr. leader) from our council but can't even find out if or when there is training on them -- or whether they are 100 percent mandatory to use or just another potential resource. I also don't want to invest in the books until I can have a good long look at them, but seem unable to get any detailed information online; it seems that we must purchase them to see them in any detail. I am not averse to change! But if "girl ownership" is the credo of GS, and we ask our girls, "Here's this program, do you want to pursue it," and they say... No, then what do we do? The flexibility to do what works for our particular troop has always been the best part of being a leader and I hope that won't change. Our troop, like yours, Stitch, wants to go and do all the time. Of course we want them to reflect on things and think about lessons learned but I have no idea yet if the Journeys series is going to do that for them or not.
I have been told this week by our council, by the way, that the "old" Junior Badge Book is still valid until spring of 2012, so you should be able to use that with your troop all this coming year. Double check with your own councils, though.
Joy -- It's not true that the only difference in the new badges is their color. GS is eliminating loads of badges that have been in the badge book. They're cutting down to a small handful of "legacy" badges like first aid; two cookie-related badges; and a few badges for each Journey level, tied to the Journey content, I think. (Like I said, it's been hard to tell!). It's not a matter of redesigning the look of the longtime badges; these are new ones (a few are repeats, like First Aid) and there are MANY fewer once the Journey badges are the only ones available. I'm assuming this means that once spring 2012 is past, if a girl were interested in something more individual and quirky like the Architecture badge, or Hiking, or Horse Fan -- those will no longer exist and girls can't earn them any more after that point. That's what I take it to mean when they say "the Jr. Badge Book is valid until spring 2012."
If you need badges that are in the current (non-Journey) Badge Book, figure out now what your girls will be earning this year and order the actual badges NOW, not in a few months or at the year's end! GS is no longer producing the badges and when stocks sell out, that's it, and you'll end up with an awards ceremony but no awards. Check online; different councils around the US have different stocks. I just ordered a bunch from a Massachusetts council though I'm in Virginia!
Leaders, please post to Mamasource this fall as you get trained or have opinions. Would love to hear them. Let's all watch for the term "Girl Scout Journeys" if we post and put that into our titles, OK? Thanks!
