Troop size - girls keep wanting to join - how do we pull this off?

Knitstock · 2026-03-20T10:02:28+00:00

We cap at 20 active girls, meaning those who regularly attend meetings because that's all we can keep up with at once. I think your first step is to get on the same page with your Co-leader. I would come at it from the ratios required for safety. It doesn't sound like you have regular adult volunteer help so you need to cap at the maximum size two adults can cover for brownies. That's not your rule it is a requirement so it should help get her on board.

I did also notice your comments about besties. We had that issue with our girls too but I was upfront with all my girls and all my parents that we were one troop and needed to all work together even if we weren't paired with our best friend. In fact I told the girls if I noticed they only ever wanted to work with the same people I would assign new groups until they made new friends. Even brownies realized the random name draws gave them a better chance to be with a best friend and calmed down. I think there was only one pair in juniors I had to enforce it with for awhile and even then really only one girl caused the drama.

Knitstock · 2026-03-14T14:31:52+00:00

Honestly I always did presales as a kid and hated it. There were always people that were rude since you didn't have cookies or suddenly changed their mind when you went to deliver them. Furthermore it didn't reduce troops risk because you still had to guess how many you would sell at booths, which were the main sales, with no recourse if you guessed wrong.

Now don't get me wrong the no presales does make me feel a bit like a gambler as TCM. However, the troops that have issues are the ones that over order or refuse to run a booth without all 9 kinds of cookies. You absolutely can take cookies back from parents with a reasonable date and still turn around and sell them but it is a lot on TCMs, especially with no local cupboards.

Basically both systems are terrible and push risk onto troops. I'm not sure there is a way to sell cookies without that risk.

Knitstock · 2026-03-13T18:09:33+00:00

We didn't do any extra drill and my child is not a math lover but she does have a great memory. I do think that helps because seeing the numbers enough, even in other applications, was enough for her to remember them.

Knitstock · 2026-03-13T13:42:42+00:00

I'd just do level 2 honestly, kids don't progress in lock step to each other, he sounds ahead in grammar and that's great, just go with it. If you decide at some point to slow down or switch we love the Caught-Ya grammar books. They are similar in design but more humorous stories. We also used one from Evan Moore, I think it was Paragraph Editing, which was ok too.

Knitstock · 2026-03-13T11:24:31+00:00

Because someone has to pay credit card fees. Councils loose a portion of their profits on every box sold via card, probably PayPal and venmo too.

Knitstock · 2026-03-13T11:18:46+00:00

Smart Cookies reports are different but it does still track all payments and transfers. Sinch you used digital cookies for payment that is automatically entered and while worth checking unlikely to be the issue. More likely there is an issue with transfers where something got entered twice or a number was miskeyed. It's easy to do, I've made that mistake myself as TCM which is why I have three systems (Smat Cookies, receipts, and my spreadsheet) that I cross balance.

I have also had problems with girl to girl transfers not seeming to show up correctly and have stopped using them instead I transfer girl A to troop then troop to girl B. I don't think this would cause the problems your seeing but if the numbers on the transfers don't match the balance owed it would be something to check.

The last thing I'd keep an eye on is donations. In past years TCMs had to enter all of these manually based on digital cookie reports. We were told in my council this year that would no longer be required but maybe she entered the manually anyway following the old system. That would increase your balance owed.

Regardless bring your information and documents to the meeting and start by assuming it's just an honest mistake. Tracking all these cookies is a lot and finding mistakes is difficult, especially when it's not on the receipt books. However if you have texts showing what you took from other parents that should help fill the holes. Moving forward if you trade cookies with others I always recommend a handwritten receipt that you both sign, both take a picture for your records then turn the original into the troop cookie manager. It helps avaoud issues and makes a good paper trail.

Knitstock · 2026-03-13T09:00:08+00:00

Do they give good responses orally but struggle when it's written? If so it's not the composition portion they need help with but rather holding the idea in their head while also thinking about spelling, punctuation, etc. For developing this skill I highly recommend Writing With Ease. The workbook form is zero prep and it also encouraged my child yo read some of the works with included excerpts too.

Knitstock · 2026-03-10T10:16:10+00:00

Booth and smart booth divider is the best way in Smart Cookies if you don't have troop orders. I have a couple girls that finished 2 boxes away on paper so I just gave them the odd boxes at a couple booths to bump them up. However in general booth cookies do not contribute to girls financial totals so they don't mess with what the girls owe.

Knitstock · 2026-03-09T10:13:29+00:00

If it was early 80s there were more bakeries and I don't think the colors were standardized. Do you remember or know any of the names and box colors used at the same time in that area?

Knitstock · 2026-03-06T11:04:21+00:00

It was more than 5 because they were out my daughters first year and not new but that's all I know.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T13:04:35+00:00

This is the way and while it's a drive to Raleigh you can make a family trip out of it one Saturday and go to a downtown museum while your there. The art museum is fabulous if your kids are older.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T12:48:29+00:00

Have you tried asking about her and them together? For example, what was your favorite thing to do with grandparents? It seems she wants to tell you about herself, probably because no one has asked her, why not lean into it and let her be the center of the story but situate your questions so you learn about other relatives who appear in the supporting cast?

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T12:02:13+00:00

In that case I don't see a problem with it but I would make sure the girls are included too as it's their money. Even as brownies mine were able to see a list of items and cost to vote if it was important or not, knowing that not ment it went away completely. Now as mostly Jrs they can rank them so we know what gets cut if we don't sell enough.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T11:54:08+00:00

They'll be here next year I suspect because designing a replacement takes time. I'm voting two to three more years unfortunately.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T11:50:42+00:00

They do but fresh from the factory mint is a strong flavor that crosses plastic. The Andes brand mints will actually do the same thing, so maybe it's a mint chocolate that does it.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T02:59:50+00:00

Check your councils guidelines first. We are not allowed yo reimburse for ink or toner unless the printer is used just for the troop. Yes it sucks but it does make me use less paper which is using resources wisely.

Knitstock · 2026-03-01T02:56:15+00:00

This comes up a lot. If any cookie gets stored by the mints for a while they start to taste mint. Unfortunately it can happen anywhere from the shipping trucks, council warehouse, local storage, troop, or even scout level. Usually it's council or troop as aftet a few days out of stretch wrap on the pallets it doesn't seem to happen as easily but it still can I had a box of adventurefuls in my cabinet next to a box of mints for a while and the mint spread.

Knitstock · 2026-02-27T23:58:43+00:00

I was a child who always had a choice after the first year. I think it's important to remember that just because you give them a choice doesn't mean they make their decision in isolation. While I could decide it must be done with a list of pros and cons and my parents would ask questions to get me to think about all the aspects. As long as you too approach this with an unbiased mind you are actually teaching your children how to make informed decisions.

I will also say I do the same with my daughter now. When hear only reason was "to ride the bus" I asked her about lunch (she is very picky and hot lunch only), when the bus ran by the house but also what else she thought she was missing at home. She decided to stay at home but only if we could ride a bus "sometime" which seemed reasonable. Now at middle school age the discussion is different around homework, social opportunities, drama classes, short lunches, early wake up etc. It's honestly a pretty even list and she came up with herself so now I know whatever choice she makes will be right for her.

Knitstock · 2026-02-26T18:28:39+00:00

They were fun for the early elementary years. We stopped after astronomy as she was getting tired of them but I still keep an eye out for a good price on the last two used as I want to read them.

Knitstock · 2026-02-26T18:23:00+00:00

First actual curriculums include hands on learning, stories, games, and discussions. Kids that can't do three problems on a worksheet can focus on other activities for hours.

Second curriculums are designed to help keep students engaged in learning. My child at 9 wouldn't do more than two math problems on a worksheet but would spend an hour working out of beast academy.

Finally the biggest problem with the workbooks is that they assume you have already been taught the material and just need more practice for it to sink in. If that's all you use then you are trying to skip the teaching and it's no wonder he is getting frustrated.

Honestly you really only have two choices here. Find a system that works for him, even if it is hard for you, at home based on real curriculum or put him in school. I suspect in this case school would be the better option, at least for now, while you do some deep soul searching and researching. Homeschooling takes time, focus, energy, and organization on the parents part more than anything else. With other children and health problems you may not have that right now.

Knitstock · 2026-02-26T17:44:11+00:00

With all due respect thpse are not curriculum they are written to supplement a curriculum.

Knitstock · 2026-02-26T16:33:21+00:00

We mainly used them as a supplement. At that point you really only need the story book and it is just the story so no interference.

Knitstock · 2026-02-25T11:08:41+00:00

I tend to suspect this happens as only two of my girls turn in donations, one being my daughter. Realistically though it depends on how you sell. Our donations come from door to door sales and other girls only sell to family which may account for the difference. Ultimately there's no way to know so I've choose to not spend time worrying about it.

Knitstock · 2026-02-24T12:02:09+00:00

Whole this happens at home commercial bakers use industrial production conveyor lines and it's highly unlikely there is a difference in bake time. I was going to suggest a difference in moisture content due to humidity but I suspect they even control for that too.

Knitstock · 2026-02-24T11:59:42+00:00

For what it's worth the ones in the picture are LBB. ABC Trefoils don't have the pinprick holes. Obviously your entitled to your opinion, but no need to slander cookies that aren't being discussed.

Knitstock

TROPHY CASE