Goldfish Swim School: The Lessons

You may remember my last post about our experience at the Goldfish Swim School in Naperville, IL. (If not, please click the link and read all about it). In that post, I just discussed the facility. I didn’t get a chance to go into the lessons themselves.

Now, I do have to inform you all that Bill was a swim coach and a lifeguard when he was younger. I will be including some of his observations in this post about what our opinions of Goldfish Swim School are at this point.

The first thing I have to tell you is that they keep their pool fairly warm (I think they told me its 90 degrees, but I’m not 100% positive on that).  My kids did NOT complain about the pool temperature.  I was also impressed to find out they make their own chlorine too.  When you step into the pool area, you aren’t assaulted with heat nor the smell of chlorine.  I like that.  Madison’s hair isn’t getting all icky from the chlorine either (which is an issue we have had other places).

The first thing that Bill absolutely loved was this glass partitian.  As you can see, you can clearly see what’s going on the other side.  However, it does keep the kids from getting distracted.  They can’t hear the parents, so it keeps them listening to their teacher.  (And yes, Bill has informed me that some parents like to scream orders and directions at their kids during a lesson.  It’s distracting for everyone involved.)  You also don’t have to worry about sibling distractions and all that fun stuff.  Also, as you can see, you take pictures of your kids through it too.

You can also see from this picture how they do the lanes for the lessons.  It’s the width of the pool, so I think the kids don’t find it as daunting.  I know Will didn’t.

Something else I have to mention.  Before we started these lessons, Will wouldn’t go near a pool without floaties.  He was terrified of the water without his safety cushion basically.  Since grandma and Uncle Kyle both have pools (and we’ll be swimming in the ocean this summer), it was very important that Will felt more confident.

Now, their first lesson was mostly testing to see where my kids needed to go.  Will stayed in the beginner class.  However, Madison moved up 2 levels!  They really want to make sure you are getting the most out of your lessons.  Each class also only has 4 kids, so you definitely get a lot of time to get your skills up.

Their second lesson is more working on their skills.  Right now, Will just needs to work on floating on his back.  If he can master that skill, he will be moving up to the next level.  I want you to notice something — there are no floating devices.  We’ve done lessons several years ago through the park district, and they seemed to heavily rely on them for their lessons.  At Goldfish Swim School, that was the first thing we noticed.  Will didn’t have the option, and you know what?  He excelled.  Now, we are 2 lessons in, and Will swam about half of his lane without floaties.  I can’t tell you how proud of him I am.  There was no crying, no panicing, and he did it while having fun.

Madison was moved up 2 levels.  What surprised me was that they worked with her on many different swim strokes.  Our past experience with park districts, they only work on freestyle.  They taught her the backstroke last night, and she already mastered it!  However, her freestyle technique needs work (well, she has to unlearn what she’s doing and streamline herself better).  She has a couple other skills she also needs to work on.

Now, I know you are all asking – how do I know this?  Well, five minutes before the class is over, they ask all the parents to come by the pool.  Your child’s instructor tells you what they did that day and what they excelled at.  The kids also get a ribbon.

You also get a progress report (this is the one from our first lesson.)  They clearly keep you clued into how your kids are doing.

You know your kids are loving their swim lessons when after each class they ask when they are coming back again.  My kids are proud of themselves and what they have already accomplished in 2 short weeks.  Madison has already asked me if she can join their swim team!

I’ll be doing  another post to let you know how my kids have progressed, but I can only highly recommend Goldfish Swim School.  I have been asked by many people why we drive an hour away for these lessons — well, I have no issue when you have such excellence.

Did you or your kids ever take swim lessons?