ISR lessons are different from traditional swim lessons because the focus is on survival skills and water safety first. Each child learns how to respond if they unexpectedly enter the water. 

Lessons are one-on-one private lessons and are customized for each child. Ages 6-12 months will focus on teaching the child to roll onto their back to float, rest and breathe, and to be able to maintain this life-saving position until help arrives. Ages 1-6 years focus on teaching the swim-float-swim survival sequence. Children learn to swim with their head down; roll onto their back to float, rest, and breathe; and roll back over to resume swimming until they reach the side of the pool, where they can either crawl out or until they can be rescued.

Children can begin lessons as early as 6 months old once they are sitting independently and students typically participate through age 6. 

You can learn more about ISR on their website here and read additional FAQs on our website here.

Lesson Structure:

New Student & Refresher ISR Lessons are:

• 10 minutes per day

• Your child will attend daily, Monday through Friday

• Private, one-one-one instruction

Lesson times are scheduled every 10 minutes (for example: 9:00am, 9:10am, 9:20am, etc.).

Consistency is extremely important for skill development which is why lessons occur daily throughout the program.

Most new ISR students complete the ISR program in 30 lessons over 6 weeks. We schedule for 6 weeks and adjust as needed based on how your little one progresses.

Each child progresses at their own pace and safety is always our priority. We would never push a child to finish the program before they are fully skilled and confident.

Some children complete their skills closer to 4 weeks, while others benefit from and need the full 6-8 weeks of lessons to learn the skills.

Refresher lessons are extremely important in continuing and maintaining your child’s ISR Self-Rescue™ skill development. Children grow and develop rapidly from infants to toddlers and young children. This development process represents improved strength, coordination, and a more finely tuned cognitive ability. In accordance with this growth, children enrolled in ISR return periodically to participate in Refresher Lessons.

Refresher lessons are designed to fine-tune your child’s existing ISR Self-Rescue™ skills to meet the demands of their growing bodies. It will allow them to make adjustments in their float and strengthen their swim.

Previous Swim-Float-Swim students will take approximately 2 weeks to complete.

Previous Rollback-to-Float students returning to learn Swim-Float-Swim, refresher lessons will likely take approximately 3-4 weeks.

Maintenance lessons are also available at any time for regular fine-tuning of your child's skills. These lessons are highly recommended.

At Palekana Swim, we view ISR as an ongoing process, not a one-time lesson set.

Our goal is to support your child over time, helping them maintain strong, reliable self-rescue skills as they grow and develop.

As your child becomes ready for longer lesson times and more advanced skill development, we offer private lesson options focused on stroke technique, endurance, and overall swimming ability. This allows swimmers to continue progressing in a familiar, supportive environment with our team.

We’re proud to support families beyond ISR, giving children the opportunity to grow with us every step of the way.

• ISR Registration Fee: $105 for New ISR students & $45 to update for returning students (paid directly to ISR)

• Weekly New ISR Student & ISR Refresher Lesson Cost: $125 per student, per week

• Maintenance Lessons: $25/lesson per student

The ISR Registration Fee is a one-time, non-refundable fee that goes directly to ISR. This fee allows ISR to evaluate your child prior to starting lessons and helps ensure the safest most effective instruction possible.

While we schedule lesson times in 6 week sessions, lessons are billed weekly rather than as a full session fee. This allows families to only pay for the weeks their child needs. Some children complete their skills in closer to 4 weeks, while others benefit and need the full 6-8 weeks of lessons.

Deposit to Reserve Your Spot:

To reserve your lesson time a $125 deposit will be required at the time of booking. This deposit will be applied toward your first week of lessons.

Because ISR schedules rely on consistent daily attendance and spots are limited, the deposit is non-refundable if lessons are cancelled after booking. 

If you need to move to a different time within the same originally scheduled session, your deposit can be applied to the new lesson time (pending availability).

In the rare case that Palekana needs to cancel a session due to low enrollment, any deposits for that session will be fully refunded.

Discounts & Scholarships

If you are a Military or First Responder family please mention this when replying or booking as we offer a Military and First Responder discount.

There are also wonderful ISR scholarships available to help cover the cost of lessons. If you'd like more information about available scholarships please contact us here.

Attendance & Billing Notes

Because ISR lessons occur daily and each child's lesson time is reserved exclusively for them:

• Weekly tuition remains the same if your child misses individual lesson days due to illness or other schedule conflicts, as their reserved lesson time cannot be filled by another student.

• If your family will be away for a full week (5 consecutive lesson days), we charge 50% of the weekly fee to hold your child's lesson time until they return.

• Families are not charged for lesson days when Palekana is closed for a holiday or in the rare event the instructor cancels lessons.

Matt Lowell - Owner, Palekana Swim & Certified ISR Instructor

Matt began working as a swim instructor and lifeguard at age 15 and has spent 20 years teaching children and adults how to swim safely and confidently. He grew up in the Portland area and now lives in Beaverton with his wife Katherine and their three children, Theo (8), Benji (6) and Bella (3). After becoming parents, Matt and Katherine enrolled their own children in ISR lessons when the two oldest were 1 and 3 years old. Seeing the confidence and life-saving skills their children developed inspired Matt to train as an ISR instructor himself so he could bring those same skills to families in the community. Since becoming an ISR instructor 4 years ago he has taught 237 ISR students totaling over 4,925 lessons!

In addition to ISR lessons, Matt also teaches traditional private swim lessons (for ages 4+/ISR grads), swim team preparation and advanced stroke conditioning, building on his experience the last 20 years teaching at THPRD, VillaSport and as an independent instructor when Matt and Katherine founded Palekana Swim in 2021. 

ISR builds a strong, safety-first foundation, but it’s just the beginning of your child’s swim journey.

As your child grows and is ready for longer lesson times, we offer private lessons focused on stroke development, endurance, and overall swimming ability.

Many of our families continue with us after ISR, allowing their children to build on their foundation in a familiar, supportive environment with our team.

Whether your child is under 6 months, your schedule isn’t ready for daily lessons, or you’re looking for early water exposure and safety guidance, Parent & Me is a great place to begin.

These small-group classes focus on water exposure, parent education, and building comfort in a safe, supported environment, while also introducing foundational safety concepts.

For families who are unsure about ISR or looking for a starting point, Parent & Me can be a great first step. When your child is ready, we’ll help guide you into ISR lessons with confidence.

Explore Parent & Me Classes.