[email protected]

I don't remember who brought it up, but I have to disagree with the
assertion that swimming shouldn't be unschooled. Matter of fact, that was
one of the first experiences that convinced me that the unschooling thing
could work! We own a pool, and are worried about drowning. My wife tried
to take our daughter, Serena, to swimming lessons, and Serena did NOT like
them. She always wanted to do her own thing, not what the teacher wanted!
So, instead of formal swimming lessons, we just took her into the pool.
Our pool has a large shallow end, about 3 feet deep. She would play on
the steps, and when she wanted, would come out to one of us. She worked
her way up to that, and then, worked her way into standing by herself, and
then to swimming in the shallow end, and finally, to swimming in the deep
end. She did have a suit that had floatation cushions sewn in it when she
was younger, but once she started standing in the shallow end, she didn't
wear that anymore, and has never really used those wings or anything like
that. Sometimes, she sees other kids using them, and she claims that she
can't swim, and that she needs them!

One thing I notice about her, versus kids that have taken swim lessons, is
that she doesn't limit herself artificially. One of her friends doesn't
dive to the bottom because "her teacher hasn't shown her that yet", while
Serena happily swims on the bottom!

Kevin


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

the_clevengers <[email protected]>

--- In [email protected], kevin.tucker@m... wrote:
> I don't remember who brought it up, but I have to disagree with the
> assertion that swimming shouldn't be unschooled.

That post was mine, and I didn't assert that swimming shouldn't be
unschooled, just that I personally wasn't choosing to unschool it.


> Matter of fact, that was
> one of the first experiences that convinced me that the unschooling
thing
> could work!

For some kids, maybe. Tried it with my kid and it didn't work. My son
didn't go in the water, even with all the flotation devices and cool
toys we bought, until he was 4 1/2 and started swimming lessons. Our
whole family would go to the pool and he would sit on the side. We
spent entire vacations in Hawaii and Florida with him not going in
the pool. Swimming lessons freed him to swim, and now he is an
amazing little fish. Dives to the bottom (taught himself that one,
too!). For a kid with SID (sensory integration dysfunction), that
made him very averse to the water to start with, to a kid who can not
only get his face wet but submerge himself totally, we've been pretty
amazed at the progress he's made with a good teacher. Progress he
absolutely wasn't about to attempt on his own.

> We own a pool, and are worried about drowning. My wife tried
> to take our daughter, Serena, to swimming lessons, and Serena did
NOT like
> them.

I think that's a different situation. My kids both love swimming
lessons, and they've had a great teacher. Recently, when my son said
he didn't want to do them anymore, I respected that and he quit, mid-
session.

> So, instead of formal swimming lessons, we just took her into the
pool.
> Our pool has a large shallow end, about 3 feet deep.

I think that's great. I wish we could have a pool of our own, might
make it a bit easier to unschool something like that. As it was, we
were paying to go the pool every week to have our son sit on the
side, for many years. For us, this was the one scenario where
unschooling the subject wasn't "working". And the obvious reason it
wasn't working was that our kid wasn't going to go into the water in
the timeframe that I wanted him to. Like I said, if I'd been patient,
maybe he would've done it at 6 or 8 or 10 years old. That's the
unschooling philosophy - that patience. But if you ask me,
unschooling only works if you're willing to have that patience, and I
wasn't willing to WRT something I consider a safety issue. And I'm
glad we were able to find a teacher who could gently encourage him to
give the water a try. Now he begs to go swimming!

> One thing I notice about her, versus kids that have taken swim
lessons, is
> that she doesn't limit herself artificially. One of her friends
doesn't
> dive to the bottom because "her teacher hasn't shown her that
yet", while
> Serena happily swims on the bottom!

Maybe that's just a hallmark of non-unschooled kids in general. As my
kids are unschooled in every other aspect of learning, they have no
problems doing things that they haven't been taught. They tend to see
their swimming teacher as a jumping-off point, so to speak. Since
beginning lessons, my son has taught himself to swim underwater,
taught himself to jump and dive in from the edge too. It's funny,
because she gives these little report card thingies that tells what
he's able to do, and I told her he could do half the stuff that she
didn't check off. She was surprised. And of course, that was just
before he asked to quit. I think he realized he'd outlived the
usefulness of having her as a teacher.

With my daughter, I wouldn't have started her in lessons for another
year or two, but she begged for them when her older brother started
going. Now that he quit, she still says she wants to go. I guess that
part of it is unschooling after all. She's much more the type to just
want to get in the water and swim, so I don't really worry about her
learning it at all. We had to get her a floatie as a 1 year old,
because she would toddle up to the edge of the pool and just fling
herself in!

I'd like to reiterate that I don't see any reason why anyone *has to*
unschool swimming. My comment was just that I *chose* to based on the
fact that my son did not seem to be naturally coming to it on his
own, and it was important enough to me to subvert his natural
timeline and have him learn it via lessons.

As a personal swimming coach (mostly for triathlons), I have taught
adult swimmers who have never learned to swim as children. Quite
often, I have to start at the point of having them put their face in
the water and blow bubbles, or deal with panic attacks at the very
thought of water. Swimming is one of the things that very few people
learn to do well as children. Even people who "know how to swim" are
not strong enough swimmers to avert a catastrophe if they fell in a
river or into the middle of a lake, especially with clothing on. This
is one area that I wanted to make sure my kids picked up, for their
own safety. I've rescued both kids and adults from near-drowning
situations.

But that doesn't mean I think it's mandatory for all unschoolers,
that's just the way i chose to do it for my kids.

Blue Skies,
-Robin-

Heidi <[email protected]>

We had to get her a floatie as a 1 year old,
> because she would toddle up to the edge of the pool and just fling
> herself in!

Robin, I'm with you. I taught all my kids to swim my own self, except
my youngest. She HAD a floatie...and one day, two days before her
third birthday, in a crowded pool, when I thought my hubby had her,
and he thought I had her, she took her floatie off and flung herself
into the water.

The lifeguard did see her, floating face down, and he did get to her
in time THANK GOD. *shudder* worst day of my life. It took three
breaths to get her breathing again. And about 45 minutes for her toes
to return to normal color. When I saw her lying on the pool deck, her
toes were blue. My knees buckled and I went down.

She's great now, and has no fear of the water, and is a terrific
swimmer, but we did hire a teacher for her, because it was flat out
TIME. Everyone but Katie DID start out in the 3ft. section, gradually
working their way up to deeper water. Katie in her fearlessness pert
near drowned herself, and we bought her some lessons.

some things, you want handled in your own time frame.

peace, Heidi

the_clevengers <[email protected]>

--- In [email protected], "Heidi
<bunsofaluminum60@h...>" <bunsofaluminum60@h...> wrote:
> The lifeguard did see her, floating face down, and he did get to
her
> in time THANK GOD. *shudder* worst day of my life.

That *is* scary. My mom had a similar experience when my sister was
little, and water safety was always very much emphasized around our
house.

And Heidi, I have to mention that I get a smile every time I see your
email name, it's too funny!

Blue Skies,
-Robin-
who would be happy to have buns of aluminum right now. I think
they're more like tin foil, a bit crinkly :-)