In which the Brownies try technology

We interrupt the last Weekly Wednesday Wrap-up of the summer to bring you a special news bulletin...

Are you currently or have you previously been a scout leader? If you are, then you know how much planning, organizing, scheduling, and time is involved. In order to take some of the pressure off of Neatnik's troop leader, some of us moms have volunteered to assist the Brownies in earning some of their Try-It badges. To earn a Try-It badge, a Brownie needs to complete four (of five or six possible) activities within a particular topic.

I volunteered to run a two-fer: Computer Smarts and Point, Click, and Go.

Yes, I know. Nobody is surprised at the Try-It activities I chose.

Think of it as a dry run against the onset of the fall semester.

We worked on the badges this morning. The full troop was not available so I had only half a dozen scouts but that worked out really well. First off, I explained about online safety and I had the girls print and sign an Internet Safety Pledge. Then we talked about parts of the computer, the difference between hardware and software, used a search engine, and wrote the beginning of a story using a story starter before slipping over to play an online game.

All in all, I think I spent an hour or so in preparation and we spent just over an hour in the lab this morning. Time well spent.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.