ISR Swimming lessons week 4 - Complete!

This Friday was our final ISR swimming lesson! The kids have been doing it every Monday through Friday for the last four weeks and it's been a big commitment. They've both improved an incredible amount and we're so proud of them both. Prior to the lessons, Connor might have floundered for a few seconds before drowning and there's no doubt that Paige would have been helpless if she'd fallen in. By the end of this week I'm pretty confident that they both would have some kind of skills and could probably survive.

This week, they practiced in "summer" and then "winter" clothes. The winter clothes in Florida consists of long sleeves and pants with shoes. Being Florida, people don't typically wear heavy coats and boots, so we didn't practice with those.

Connor went first and had a lot of trouble moving in the water and he had to float quite a bit to catch his breath. He worked much harder than normal to get around in the water, but he still did well and was confident and calm in the water.

Paige did very well in her winter clothes too. She floated a lot and didn't have much of a different time in the water than she normally would. She does so well floating, she could probably do it all day. It's amazing to see the difference in her on her final day. Compared to the first day, it's an amazing transformation. She doesn't cry during her lessons, holds her breath well underwater and floats effortlessly. She doesn't have a great swimming technique and we don't think she'd be very capable of swimming her way out of a pool if you dropped her in the middle, but she knows to float and will roll over and reach for the steps or someone in the pool if they're close.

We're glad to be done with the lessons and plan to still come back once a week to keep the lessons fresh in their minds until we get in to the swimming season and are able to practice regularly on our own. Thanks Michelle! Great work kids!