In short, yes, you need a pool heater! We have a strict temperature policy in place set by the American Red Cross for swim lessons. We require pools to be at least -88-94 degrees for children aged 3 and younger -87 degrees + for children aged 3-5 years -86 degrees + for children aged 6 and older These policies are in place for both child comfort and safety! Young children are especially prone to hypothermia. We want lessons to be a positive experience for your little ones and want them able to focus on learning rather than how cold they are! Heating your pool appropriately is the responsibility of the parent. Unfortunately we cannot provide refunds due to inappropriate pool temperature. If your child is showing signs of hypothermia such as uncontrollable shaking, or blue lips or fingers, the lesson will be promptly ended.

Buffalo weather is very unpredictable! It is the responsibility of each parent to assess weather conditions and let the instructor know how you would like to proceed. Weather cancellations must be made at least 1.5 HOURS before your lesson start time to be made up by your instructor. If you anticipate thunderstorms or adverse weather, feel free to let your instructor know you'll be canceling lessons that day. We do teach in light rain, but we do not teach in thunderstorms or thunder for safety reasons. If thunder occurs during our lesson, it will be promptly ended.

Our swimmers do not wear any sort of flotation device during lessons! Contrary to popular belief, non-swimmers will not learn how to swim when they are wearing flotation devices! They need to feel their own buoyancy in the water, as well as understand the consequences involved (ie, going underwater briefly) when not wearing a flotation device. Unfortunately, there are many reported drowning incidences in which children had a false sense of confidence (because of wearing a "floatie" constantly) that then drowned when they did not have one on. This is so dangerous! We will recommend to all swim families to please NOT use puddle jumpers outside of your child's lesson time unless absolutely necessary. These devices reinforce the "drowning" position and improper swim technique and are generally unsafe. It is confusing for little ones when they are taught one thing in lessons but then can revert back to improper technique when wearing a puddle jumper.

We are primarily mobile-based swim instructors who require a heated, home pool for us to use. Miss. Carissa is primarily based in the Southtowns, with some Northtowns availability (Clarence, Williamsville). We do have a pool location for lessons with Miss. Brittany available in Cheektowaga!

We truly believe that our two wonderful instructors are the reason for student success! Carissa is certified in CPR/First Aid/AED, lifeguarding, and is a certified Water Safety Instructor through the American Red Cross. Although these certifications are important, a wide variety of teaching experience is the main contribution to instructor skill level. This will be Carissa's 4th summer teaching lessons full-time (40 hours weekly), and 9th summer teaching part-time. She will begin Summer 2025 with over 900 documented teaching hours completed, all of which have been through multiple different facilities and programs, learning what works and what does not! Summer 2025 will be Brittany's 11th summer teaching lessons! She has developed her teaching skills over a wide variety of programs in both Pennsylvania and Buffalo and has extensive experience working with children of all ages, as well as children with special needs.

We love this question! The main way we differentiate ourselves is through our individualized, 1:1 lessons with a focus on independent swimming or floating by the end of the summer. Other programs often have your child in large groups of 4:1 or 6:1 leading to a lack of individual attention from the instructor and, therefore a lack of development. This leads to parents having to purchase multiple years of lessons in order to get their child to actually be able to swim independently! Each child learns differently and has a different level of skill coming into swim lessons, and we feel that generic group lessons are unable to cater to the individual student. We do not have a generic "curriculum" that may or may not work for all swimmers. We truly meet children where they are at, developing an individual program that works well with their current ability, fears, and level of development. Every child is different and they should be treated as such! Your child will be taught by a trained and experienced adult professional; not a young high school student! Often other facilities have many instructors with very little hands-on, practical teaching experience. We always urge parents to be cautious with the instructor they are selecting to teach their little ones. Experience as a lifeguard, high school, or competitive swimmer does not necessarily qualify an instructor to teach survival-style lessons to young children. You will have the same instructor throughout your summer session, which is great for children who may be fearful around new people! Often, other swim programs will change instructors multiple times throughout the summer, leading to a lack of instructional continuity.

Yes, lessons are scheduled the same day and time weekly (or bi-weekly). If you have to miss a class due to vacation or other reasons (no big deal!) make-ups can be coordinated with your individual instructor. Unfortunately we cannot make up more than 3 planned absences (this does NOT include weather cancellations), so please plan on attending at least 7/10 of your weekly scheduled lessons as absences hinder your child's progress.

We typically do not offer anything other than 1:1 lessons for safety reasons. Because we teach very young children (who are not wearing a flotation device), we must have our eyes on them at all times! 1:1 lessons also allow children to progress much quicker than they normally would in a group setting. Your child will get much more out of a 30-minute 1:1 lesson than they will with a 30-minute 4:1 or 6:1 lesson. Each child has completely different needs and skill levels, and we like to cater to this and teach them in the way that works best for them.

Especially during the first few lessons, your child may be upset during some or all of their time with the instructor. This is very understandable! Lessons are a new experience for many of our little ones, and we are new people. Some of the skills we teach may be a little bit scary the first few times, but we promise to meet your child where they are at and minimize fear as much as possible. We move very slowly to get your child comfortable with us and comfortable with the water. None of our techniques are fear-based in any way! In most of our cases, we find that children stop crying and are actually very excited to swim with their teacher around lesson 3/4! Once they get used to the experience, most end up liking it! We teach with lots of fun toys, games, and prizes that the little ones usually love. All our teaching techniques are based on minimizing discomfort as much as possible. Your instructor will have even more helpful strategies to help your child cope with lessons if necessary!

We love parents who are enthusiastic about learning with their child! We do ask that parents not get in the pool with their child, with the exception of our parent-teaching days (lessons 5 and 10). This sometimes can create a distraction, and we want your child to be able to trust us completely as their instructor. Lessons 5 and 10 are solely dedicated to parent instruction! You will be welcome to get in the pool with your child, and will receive specialized instruction on how to practice the awesome swim techniques your little one has been learning outside of their lesson time.

Survival-style just means that by the end of your session, your child will be proficient in getting back to the side of the pool if they happen to fall in. This could be either by grabbing the wall, or floating. These techniques are taught slowly and progressively, taking into account each child's current swim level, fears, and emotions. As a disclaimer, our instructors are not nor do they claim to be ISR certified. Please seek out a local ISR instructor for infant survival lessons.

Please reach out to get a quote on lesson cost. Unfortunately, we cannot list this outright as lessons cost differently for different families, based on their distance away from their instructor. Lesson cost is based on both distance from your instructor (if they are traveling) and number of children (multiple children back-to-back costs less than one lesson for a single child) taking a lesson at the same pool. If you are looking solely for a price quote, please let us know if you will be using a pool at your home (include the address please) or if you were looking for lessons at your instructors pool location in Cheektowaga. Our cost is very comparable to other facilities in the area (that only provide 4:1 or 6:1 lessons) and in our opinion, much more cost-effective than paying for multiple years of lessons without tangible results!