Last week we signed the kids up for some activities for the summer. We signed up Autumn for ballet and Isaac for kung fu. Autumn is super excited. She might be just as excited about buying her tutu as she is about starting the class. The classes are about 6 weeks long—a total of 10 courses. So I guess it will serve as an introduction to see if they are really interested or not. I am interested to see how they will do. They start later in July.
Isaac started swimming lessons last Friday and he has already had 4 classes. We are taking a break today because he is feeling a little sick to his stomach and Joel and I had planned a date tonight. But I took lots of pictures over the past few days of Isaac swimming.
He has done so well. Last summer he was almost deathly afraid of the water, so to see him floating face down in the water is absolutely amazing to me! I have often wondered how they would teach him and what the steps would be. For those of you wanting to teach your own kids, here is what they have done so far.
Day One- They simply taught him to hold his breath and bob his head all the way down under the water. The goal was for him to hold his breath for 10 seconds under the water. This was a huge challenge for him, because my kids hate water in their face. They also held his hands and walked around the pool with him—just to get him comfortable with the teacher and also with the water. The class was one hour long and Isaac did not get past 5 seconds until class was over and no one was really watching him except for me. I held his hands while he went under just to show him that he could do it, and so that he could see that it was perfectly safe. He made it to 11 seconds before we went home.
Day Two- I wasn’t there, but they reinforced what he learned on day one. They also had him hold onto the side of the pool, put his face down in the water and float on his stomach. They tried to increase how long he could hold his breath. Isaac made it to 16 seconds.
Day Three- They taught Isaac how to make a canon-ball under the water. He was supposed to pull his knees to his chest and wrap his arms around his legs and tuck his head down to his chest. His head was submerged under water with the top of his shoulders sticking out of the water just a little. Then after holding that pose for a couple of seconds he was supposed to kick his arms and legs out into a swimming position. He was most scared before going to class this day, because he knew he would have to float without having anything to hold onto. However after he got warmed up he did it the first time they asked him to try. Since that time, he has been fearless.
Day Four- They taught him to put his arms straight out in front of him with one hand on top of the other. They told him to put his arms out, put his face down into the water and then push himself with his feet from the side of the pool. He then glided across the water until reaching the teacher (no kicking or using arms—only moving from the force of the push-off). They also sat on the side of the pool with him and taught him how to kick his legs—not bending his knees.
We signed him up for 10 classes, and it looks very promising that he will know how to swim by the end of those 10 classes. They recommended that the first 3 days would be consecutive so that he wouldn’t forget what he learned and that he wouldn’t build up fear towards the water. We had him go 4 consecutive days. So, he is taking a break today, but he should finish-up sometime next week. It seems like consistency is the biggest factor—and patience. His teachers have been very encouraging and patient. It is obvious that they have done this for many years. When I have tried teaching him in the past I kinda had a “sink or swim” mentality. I didn’t go slow enough with him, and I see that now. I did start out slow, but I think my expectations for him were too high. I didn’t realize that one of his biggest fears was getting water in his face.
Here are some video clips from his class:http://hartingfamily.smugmug.com/2011/June/Swimming-Class/17553485_3QGsTZ#1336448002_JGx8sjB
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