Comparison Shopping

Aside from the time commitment, cost is something that often comes up as a reason parents choose not to enroll their little one in ISR. While we believe ISR is worth the investment of both time and money to make children independent in the water from the age of 6 mos and up, we know that it's only human nature to compare different options and weigh which will suit your needs best. To lend a helping hand in the decision-making process, we ran a price analysis of traditional swim lessons in our area vs Lower Bucks ISR. ​

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This comparison is inclusive of 1:1 swim lesson offerings only. Group swim lessons are not safe or effective for any age, but especially not for young children. 

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ISR

• 10 min private lessons purchased as a session to learn a skill set (ie: Rollback to Float or Swim Float Swim)

• Commitment: 5 lessons per week for approx. 6 weeks

• Cost: $1150/session (taught over the course of ~30 daily lessons)

• Outcome: All students are fully skilled to self rescue in approx. 6 weeks.

• Other: Student who are developmentally ready will also have learned to swim in a session of lessons. No flotation is used in lessons. Instructors invest in an intense initial training to become certified to specifically work with infants and toddlers. The training is 150 hours over 8 weeks and there are ongoing annual recertification requirements required.

 

 

Various Local Franchise Swim Schools (Langhorne, Newtown, Richboro)​

• 30 min private lessons with no forecast of skills learned after a certain amount of lessons

• Commitment: No set commitment

• Cost: $55-90 for 30 min private lessons. Equivalent number of lessons to ISR (30) would be $1,650-$2,700.

• Outcome: No forecast of skills learned for any amount of private lessons​

• Other: Flotation is used in lessons (red flag!)

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Other 1:1 Swim Lesson Offerings (Langhorne, Newtown, Richboro)

• 30 min private lessons with no forecast of skills learned after a certain amount of lessons

• Commitment: 2x/week for 6 weeks

• Cost: ~$600/ session for a total of (12x) 30 min lessons. Equivalent number of lessons to an ISR session (30) would be $1,500+. 

• Outcome: No forecast of skills learned for any amount of private lessons​

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Summary

• What we often hear from parents of 4 and 5 year olds is that they have spent session after session (over the course of YEARS) in the traditional group or private programs and their child has little to no independent skills to show for it. Not only is this frustrating to see your money and time wasted, but it means those are years that your children do not have any ability to swim or float should they reach water alone.

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• To our knowledge, none of the above swim programs will provide an idea of expected your results after any amount of lessons. Call and ask- if they can give you a strong idea of specific results in a timeframe you feel comfortable with, then perhaps they are the better choice for you. But you deserve to know how long it will take your child to be skilled to swim and float independently if you are paying them for instruction! If they can't tell you that, it is highly probable that you will spend the same amount of money on those lessons (just spread out over years) that you would in 6 weeks of ISR. Also if your young child can learn to swim at one of these places, that's great. But they need an option to safely rest & breathe, and they need to be shown HOW to get to their back. Treading water is not a desirable option as young children (and even adults) tire of this very quickly. Students should know how to swim, float to rest & get their breath, and continue swimming.

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• Payment plans are an option for any families who need them.

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ISR is neither inexpensive nor convenient. It is easy to come up with all sorts of reasons NOT to do it. But the reason to find a way to just make it work- your child's safety- is a priceless one. You don't have to take our word for it- ask around on social media. Our swim families will be happy to share their experience!

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