Frequently Asked Questions

We promote and believe in year-round swim lessons because children learn to swim and be safe in the water at a much faster pace when they are enrolled in consistent swim lessons year round.

Our goal is to ultimately eliminate the mentality of seasonal swim lessons, especially here in Idaho because this approach usually leads to the loss of gained swim skills resulting in wasted time and money.

Ongoing lessons also provide clients with a consistent day and time until they choose to make a change. We don’t rearrange our schedule every three months, and this provides a more consistent swim lesson experience for both the students and parents.

$89 per month. (Ongoing lessons provide a more affordable option for customers—monthly lesson payments eliminate patrons having to come up with such a large sum of money at the beginning of each session.)

Anytime! Our lessons are ongoing and not session based. We believe that a consistent year-round approach to swimming is necessary for children to learn how to swim and be safe in the water.

We have a four-step enrollment process. All steps must be completed to ensure a smooth registration.

Step 1: Assessment Form.

Click on: Year-Round and submit the assessment form. (This gives us an idea of what your child is capable of prior to getting assessed.)

Note: If you have more than one child, you will need to submit one form for each child. Regardless of class availability, all children will be put on the waitlist until they have been assessed and we can ensure proper placement in a class.

Step 2: Registration Form.

Fill out the online registration form. Once we receive your registration form we will charge a $25 registration fee.

This fee includes a FLOW Aquatics Drawstring Backpack as well as the cost of their awards pack (all the bands, ribbons and trophies) they receive to mark their progress on their FLOW journey.

Step 3: Orientation and Assessment.

To ensure proper placement in a class, we bring your child in for a FREE 15-minute assessment will then call to set up an assessment for your child.

Prior to the assessment, we do a new student Orientation, so you have a chance to meet us and learn what we are are about.

Currently, all assessments take place on Saturdays after 12:00 p.m.

Step 4: Placement

Following your assessment, if we have a class available that works for your schedule, we will enroll your child.

If we do not have a class available, your child will remain on a waiting list until a class becomes available.

No, our schedule is highly customized to meet the needs of busy parents and their families. Because classes are grouped by swimmer age and skill level, we request that you follow the registration process to help us determine what classes will be available for your child’s specific needs. We do not guarantee classes until the registration process is complete and we have assessed your child in the water.

Customers will have their credit card or debit card (Master Card or Visa) debited on the 1st day of every month for the upcoming month’s swim lessons.

Because our schedule is very full, we cannot reserve a spot without payment. For your benefit and for scheduling purposes, we cannot allow clients to hold spots and then drop out at the last minute. We determine our staffing needs and class schedule based on enrollment.

Families who wish to withdraw from swim lessons will be asked to provide FLOW Aquatics with 30 days advanced, written notice. Withdrawal forms can be found at Parents Corner on our website. No verbal cancelation requests, hand written letters, or typed emails will be accepted as an acceptable form of cancelation. Thank you for your understanding!

Our wait list can tend to get very long and 30 days gives us sufficient time to cancel your enrollment and fill your child’s vacancy. Also, we determine our staffing needs, supplies, and other operational costs based on the enrollment for each month.

You will pay the pro-rated amount for the month in which you are starting swim lessons plus any administration fees. You will then go into our automatic billing system for all future months.

Yes! Our makeup system only works if parents report absences ahead of time, which is why it is important that you provide us with as much notice as possible if you are going to be absent. Thank you in advance for being diligent!To qualify for a makeup lesson, you must provide notice at least 48 business hours prior to your child’s absence. If you do not notify us within 48 business hours, you forfeit the right to a make-up lesson for that absence. Make-up lessons expire 3 months from their issue date. (You can check your expiration dates by logging in to your account). Makeups can only be redeemed if student is currently enrolled and active in lessons and cannot be used to extend your swimming lessons past your withdrawal date. Please start scheduling your makeup lessons right away to ensure you get them in.

Makeups can be scheduled up to one week in advance. If there is an opening, you will be accommodated for a makeup. However, we cannot guarantee makeups with specific teachers. If you miss your scheduled makeup lesson with no notice, you forfeit your right for a makeup lesson.

A list of all classes available for make up is located at Parents Corner on our website, under “Request a Make Up.” (More detailed information is provided on that page.)A new list of current openings will be posted on Thursday mornings by 10 a.m. for the following week and will be updated every Friday through Wednesday by 10 a.m.)

Once you have located an available space in a class that works with your time and schedule, COPY and PASTE the class from the .pdf file and use the form at the bottom of makeup request page to submit your request. Once we receive your request, we will review it to ensure the space will be a good fit for your child. Then we will send an email to confirm or deny the request.

To help speed up the response time to your request, we suggest you submit your request during our regular office hours (see below). If you submit your request outside of these days and times, you request will be logged in the order it came in and we will respond as soon as we get back to the office. Please note that this will mean a delayed response to your request.

Normal Office Hours:Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Notification of your child’s absence can be given to us via the following methods:

• Web: Report an absence via the form located at Parent’s Corner on FLOW’s website.
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (208) 855-2212
• In person

Note: Please do not report an absence in response to an email that we have sent. We may not read your message in time to record it in our system.

Due to operational costs, no refunds are issued. Credits will only be issued with prior notice for extended medical issues with a doctor’s note (i.e. broken arm, surgeries etc.).

That depends on your child and what your goals are. Every child learns differently and at a different pace, so we are unable to provide an exact number of lessons as to when they will know how to swim.Our definition of swimming means being able to swim ten minutes without stopping and understand the proper techniques of all swimming strokes (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke). However, that does not mean your child needs to stay in lessons that long. If your goal is:

• Safety: We recommend your child stays in lessons until passing Stage 3 - Propelling Penguins.
• Fundamentals: We recommend your child stays in until passing Stage 5 - Swimming Sea Dragons.
• Proper technique on freestyle and backstroke (the most common recreational strokes): We recommend your child stays in lessons until passing Stages 6 & 7 – Flowing Freestylers and Blazing Backstrokers.
• Well-rounded swimmer (ready for swim team): We recommend your child stays in lessons until passing Stage 10 – Impressive IMers. They will know proper technique for all strokes, as well as know starts turns and can swim at least tem minutes without stopping.

Once you withdraw, your child’s spot will be given up to another child on the waiting list. Upon your return, we will do our best to meet your scheduling and teacher requests, but we cannot guarantee there will be a spot that meets your specifications. If your child will only be missing a few classes, it is best to remain in lessons and be issued makeups. A few missed lessons will not be as detrimental to your child’s progress as withdrawing altogether.

Upon enrolling in our program, your child will be assessed to ensure a correct match is made when placing him or her into a class. Our classes are set up by age and skill level. However, we do run split-level classes, meaning we may run a blend of two similar levels in the same class. Not all classes are the same and the coaches are always assessing the children to ensure they are progressing as they should. Our coaches are trained to be flexible and work with each child’s strengths and weaknesses within each lesson.

To request a schedule change, visit Parent’s Corner on our website and submit a Schedule Change Request. If there is a class immediately available, during your requested times and at your child’s level, we will grant your request. Sometimes, however, it can take up to 30 days or more for a class to open up at your child’s level.

Please contact a staff member at our reception desk. If a deck supervisor is available for an immediate conversation, he or she will speak with you during your time at the pool. If no one is available to answer your question, the reception staff will email our supervisors (and cc you) to answer your question within 48 hours. If your question is an emergency and needs to be responded to within 48 hours, please let them know.

Typically children in a class will progress together and the class name and stage will change when that happens. However, if your child is progressing at a different rate (not as fast or faster) than the other children in the class, we will contact you and figure out the best plan in moving forward, whether that be a couple of supplemental private lessons to get caught up or moving to a different class.

If a class has only one child enrolled in it, we reserve the right to consolidate that class or give you the option to pay for private lessons until we can bring another child into the class. We should know 30 days in advance of this happening so as to give you ample decision making time.

We know children and parents get attached to coaches. All our coaches are wonderful and we are continuously making decisions as to the best placement of our coaches to ensure the best possible swim instruction for everyone involved. We also realize different students respond to different coaching personalities. We try to accommodate these needs as often as possible, however we cannot guarantee a request for a specific coach and always reserve the right to change coaches if necessary.

All of our coaches go through a rigorous hiring and training process to ensure the best quality lessons for your children. They are all highly qualified to teach swimming and water safety techniques. We understand your requests and will do our best to accommodate them. However, we cannot control life events that may require coaches to change schedules from time to time.