At long last the aquatics director of a local rec center got back to me and I was able to arrange swim lessons for my children. Today was the first day.The Artist had a gregarious, outgoing, encouraging teacher who made her stretch toward her potential. Perfect for her. She learned a lot about how to use her legs in the water. I'm hoping the technique she is learning and the other skills she is honing will make her (and me) more confident about her ability in the water. Today I saw a big difference from the flail she demonstrated a few weeks ago. She is learning how to get the arms and legs working together.
The Engineer didn't cry, so one major hurdle was overcome. His favorite saying whenever we get to a pool is "I am going to stay dry." The Engineer had a quiet, calm encouraging teacher, Mr. Tom. The whole morning I had talked with the Engineer about how his teacher will take care of him in the water, his teacher has taught lots of kids to swim, he needs to obey his teacher, he needs to be brave, as so on.
By the end of the Engineer's lesson today, he was resting his head on Mr. Tom's shoulder and kicking during a back float and laying on Mr. Tom's arm while kicking and scooping his arms on a front float.
The Engineer manages to blow bubbles in the water without putting his face in. Only occasionally does the tip of his nose get wet. It will be interesting to see what happens when his teacher asks him to put his face in the water or do a bob.
There have been several Lake Erie drownings this summer. This reinforces for me that swimming is a requirement for our home school.
1 comment:
Learning to swim is so important! I feel like such a failure. My youngest has yet to learn. He was always so afraid of the water that I never pursued it when he was little. Now he's 12 and doesn't want to even try to learn. I just keep trying...maybe someday he'll be willing to learn, hopefully...
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