Becoming a Troop Leader...

As most educational experiences tend to encourage, I have been stumbling around the Internet doing my research, talking on the phone and working with my co-leader.

To be a leader there are only a few things you actually have to do.

1. Register as a Girl Scout
2. Fill out a volunteer form online so the council can run a background check
3. Watch an online training video
4. Find a Co-Leader and some girls who want to participate

That's it. Kind of.
So after that, inevitably you think, what now? Here is what I did.

• Research and put together a list of activities (or choices) for meetings. There is a particular meeting structure to follow and certain items the girls need to earn that you can cater your activities to.
  
  In my case, I am starting a troop of Kindergarten Daisies. So they have to earn their petals and learn the girl scout law. For this group it will be about singing and crafts. These girls will be easy to please since they will have so much fun simply being together.
• What did other leaders do?
  
  Forms, Parent Letters, Girl Journals, Communication, Troop Dues... All things look up and then to brainstorm - What do I, as a leader, want to do? I like to learn from other's mistakes so it is a good idea to also talk to other leaders and get their perspective.
• Decide how to communicate and share pictures with your troop.
  
  This is very important. In this new world of social media, even more so since you do not want to post pictures into cyber space that could compromise the privacy of other families or the girls in your care.
  
  My son's cub scout den uses a private Shutterfly site, which is okay. It sends out emails to members and keeps a calendar. The best thing about this site is that you can print pictures easily and have them mailed to you. However, I do not think it is very user friendly and non-den members cannot find your site (which means that anyone who wants to join the group cannot find your internet presence).
  
  I chose to make a website through Scoutlander, a web hosting site designed for scouting. This site, though it did take time to learn the interface, I am very happy with. It is free, already has a Girl Scout template, has an email/picture/calendar system in place, and ALSO has the public site that can be found through a search engine for potential scouts. I can upload forms to it and even set up a blog-like page for meeting notes so parents know what happened and can print out any forms their daughter lost.
• Meet with your Co-Leader.
  
  I did not know my co-leader before starting on this journey, so had to become friends and learn each other's strengths. After talking (and talking and talking and talking) we started to hash out the details of what we expect to accomplish together. It was very important to my co-leader that we work at the girls' pace and age-appropriate level.
  
  We had to discuss the first meeting, divvy up responsibility and handouts to be given to the parents/girls so that we start the troop off positively. There should be no room for confusion over expectations.
• Meet with the Parents to discuss their roll for their girl scout, troop structure and expectations.

So... This is where I am at. Stay Tuned. Hopefully I will have some nuggets of insight to share and some fun times ahead.