I am the delighted, sometimes (a lot of the time, really) overwhelmed, blessed, frazzled Girl Scout Leader for 18 girls ranging from Daisy to Junior!
My girls are 15 months apart and one grade different in school so sometimes they are the same Girl Scout level and sometimes they are not. Because I don't want to manage two separate troops, I allow siblings, which is why we have such a large age range of girls. Next year, we'll be kinder through 6th grade, so Daisy through Cadette! Oh my!
Just recently I split the troop into two patrols so that we can have more intimate meetings. One patrol is 8 girls and one patrol is 10 girls (keeping siblings together). Each patrol meets every other week. My hope is that I can spend more time with the individual girls and develop meaningful relationships with them and they with me and the other girls. My long-term goal is to develop such a sisterhood with the girls so that when Girl Scouts no longer is the "cool" thing to do, they still will want to attend because they are hanging out with their friends and being mentors to the younger girls.
We are a very badge and patch heavy troop and attend as many field trips as possible! I get SO EXCITED by all the free resources available for Girl Scouts! I feel like every time I turn around, I find out about a free patch program or an another field trip opportunity!
One of the many aspects I love about Girl Scouts is that each troop is so autonomous and we get to decide what we want to focus on. Of course, that autonomy terrified me when I first started 4 years ago and was so very thankful for all of the free resources I found on Pinterest! My goal is to share the resources out to other Girl Scout leaders!
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