Advancing as a Lone Scout

5.0.3.0. A youth has no access to a traditional unit

The circumstance Lone Scouting exists for. Not a preference about the local units: the Guide says in terms that it is not an alternative for those who simply do not like them or cannot get along with them.

Milestone

Lone Scouting is not an alternative for those who simply do not like the local units or cannot get along with them. The Guide says so in terms.

5.0.3.0. The circumstances it is meant for

Home schooling where the parents do not want a youth group; US citizens living abroad; exchange students away from the United States; a disability or communicable illness preventing attendance; a rural community far from a unit; conflicts with a job, night school or boarding school; families who travel constantly or live aboard a boat; parents in different communities; and places where getting to meetings would put the Scout in danger.

Requirement

5.0.3.0. Living abroad: ask the National Council which council serves you Optional

Those living outside the United States should contact the National Council on 972-580-2000 to find out which local council covers their location.

Task

5.0.3.0. What the friend and counselor must be Often forgotten

Youth Protection trained, at least 21 years old, registered with Scouting America, and meeting its adult membership requirements. All four apply even where the friend and counselor is the Scout's own parent.

Requirement

5.0.3.0. They register on the standard adult application

The same form any other registered adult uses.

Document

5.0.3.1. Family, neighbours and friends can stand in for a den or a troop Recommended

In some instances this increases the number of requirements that can be met exactly as stated, which is always the preferred outcome.

Task

5.0.3.1. Simple wording issues need nobody's approval Optional

The Guide's own example: a Lone Scout may fulfil a position of responsibility by serving in a school, a place of worship, a club and so on.

Decision

5.0.3.1. Anything else needs council advancement committee approval Optional Often forgotten

Where a requirement cannot be met as written, the friend and counselor may suggest equal or very similar alternatives. Suggesting them is not the same as approving them: the council advancement committee decides.

Approval

The friend and counselor may suggest an equal or very similar alternative. Approving it is the council advancement committee's decision, not theirs.

5.0.3.1. Dissimilar requirements only in extreme circumstances Optional

Or where a requirement cannot be met without extreme hazard or hardship. The Lone Scout Friend and Counselor Guidebook has the detail.

Requirement

5.0.3.2. Ask the council for its list of preapproved counselors Recommended May not apply

Obtainable by telephoning the local council service centre.

Document

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

5.0.3.0. Meet others and visit a unit where you can Recommended

Permissible and even beneficial. These meetings provide extra instruction and counseling, and a more public setting in which achievement can be recognised.

Task

5.0.3.3. The unit committee chair signature line is left blank May not apply Often forgotten

There is no unit committee for a Lone Scout, so there is nobody to sign it. Leaving it blank is correct, not an omission.

Requirement

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

A blank unit committee chair line on a Lone Scout's application is correct. It is not a missing signature and should not be chased.

5.0.3.3. No unit committee approval for the service project proposal May not apply

For the same reason. The other proposal approvals still apply.

Requirement

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

5.0.3.0. Cub Scouting or Scouts BSA — those two only Often forgotten

Venturing and Sea Scouts do not offer an equivalent experience, so there is no Lone Venturer and no Lone Sea Scout.

Decision

Usually comes after 5.0.3.0. A youth has no access to a traditional unit.

5.0.3.0. Register through the council service centre

Application is made as a Lone Cub Scout or a Lone Scout through the local council.

Document

Usually comes after 5.0.3.0. Cub Scouting or Scouts BSA — those two only.

5.0.3.0. Recruit a Lone Scout friend and counselor

Every Lone Scout must work with one. Preferably a parent, but a religious leader, teacher, neighbour or Scouting volunteer will do.

Approval

Usually comes after 5.0.3.0. Register through the council service centre.

Even where the friend and counselor is the Scout's own parent, all four conditions apply: Youth Protection training, at least 21 years old, registered with Scouting America, and meeting the adult membership requirements.

5.0.3.0. Get the Lone Scout Friend and Counselor Guidebook Recommended

Called an essential tool in carrying out the programme, and available at scouting.org/advancement. It holds detail on alternatives that the Guide to Advancement itself does not.

Document

5.0.3.1. Requirements one Scout and a counselor can meet are met as written Often forgotten

Ranks, merit badges and any other advancement award. This is the limit on the flexibility, and the Guide states it before it states the flexibility: Lone Scouting is not a place to register a youth simply to make parental approval of advancement easier.

Requirement

Usually comes after 5.0.3.0. Recruit a Lone Scout friend and counselor.

Lone Scouting is not a place to register a youth simply to facilitate parental approval of advancement. The flexibility described below exists for requirements that genuinely cannot be met, not for requirements that are inconvenient.

5.0.3.2. Merit badges: registered counselors, recruited locally May not apply

A Lone Scout earns merit badges by working with adult counselors who meet the ordinary qualifications and are registered with the council. Teachers, hobbyists, business leaders and club members are the Guide's suggested sources.

Task

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

Usually comes after 5.0.3.0. Recruit a Lone Scout friend and counselor.

5.0.3.1. Rank advancement

The ranks themselves are the same ranks, earned to the same requirements, with the narrow room for alternatives described above.

Milestone

Usually comes after 5.0.3.1. Requirements one Scout and a counselor can meet are met as written.

8.0.0.0. The board of review

For the Eagle Scout rank, a Lone Scout works with the district or council advancement committee according to local practices. For the other ranks the Guide to Advancement does not say who holds the board — ask the council.

Event

Usually comes after 5.0.3.1. Rank advancement.

For the Eagle Scout rank, section 5.0.3.3 says a Lone Scout works with the district or council advancement committee. Nothing was found in the Guide to Advancement saying who holds the board of review for a Lone Scout's Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star or Life rank. Ask the local council rather than assuming.

5.0.3.3. The Eagle Scout application for a Lone Scout Optional May not apply

Reviewed and processed through the ordinary Eagle application steps at 9.0.1.0 to 9.0.1.10 — council verification, the board of review, and submission to the National Program Committee — with four particulars that are not ordinary at all.

Milestone

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

5.0.3.3. The friend and counselor conducts the unit leader conference May not apply

And signs as the unit leader, both on the Eagle Scout Rank Application and in the service project workbook.

Task

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

5.0.3.3. Work with the district or council advancement committee May not apply

According to local practices. They stand in for the unit that would ordinarily carry the application forward.

Approval

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

Usually comes after 5.0.3.3. The friend and counselor conducts the unit leader conference.

5.0.3.3. The council sends the application to National on paper May not apply Often forgotten

Because the Lone Scout is not affiliated with a unit, the local council processor must send the application to the National Program Committee or their designee. It cannot be submitted electronically.

Document

You have not answered "Which program is the Lone Scout registered in?" yet.

Usually comes after 5.0.3.3. Work with the district or council advancement committee.

It cannot be submitted electronically. A council used to filing applications through the system needs to know this before the deadline, not afterwards.