The swim teachers are good but the filter went out and they gave me a call at 4:18 when my child…read morehad class at 4:30 we were already there. So then they will give me a credit to my Foss account not even back to my cc. I didn't like the way they handled things.

I am truly sad and disappointed in our Foss experience at the Elmood Park location. When we started…read moreat Foss, the quality of instruction and kid-friendly environment made it worth the steep price. Our son loved his lessons. However, several major factors have caused us to pull our son out mid session. This year, Foss stopped offering any make up sessions. To us, this was unreasonable as the current session is 13 weeks long and the price is $30 for a half hour. Instead, Foss offers family swim as a substitute for a make-up lesson, which books out months in advance. Other swim schools offer tokens for make up sessions as inevitably, very few families are available for 13 weeks straight. We also experienced a major lack of communication with management. Nobody answers the phone. We missed a session once and when we arrived the following week, the building was closed. There was nothing on the website or any form of communication to inform us of this closure. When I called and asked why the building was closed I was told that there had been a note on the door the previous week (the week we missed.) Most unfortunately, the quality of swim instructors at Foss varies widely. Although our three teachers before this session were great, our most recent teacher wasn't in the pool when class started, had 4 year old kids sitting on the step for long periods of time, and put the kids in time out if they moved to the other end of their lane for their turn. Of course the top priority is safety, but she never showed the children what she expected of them. I'm still not sure how they were expected to get to the other side of the lane for their turn. I had to stick up for my son when the teacher put him in time out for moving down the lane. During the first class with her, my son only swam for 10 minutes total, as the kids sat on the step for the first 10 minutes, played games for 5 minutes and were sent out of the pool early. This is not acceptable when classes cost about $1 per minute. When I spoke with the manager about my concern, another mom was doing the same thing about the same teacher. Instead of listening to me, the manager said she'd call or email me the next day, but I never heard from her until I followed up a few days later. If I were the manager, I would be interested in knowing why families were ending their sessions. Overall, this lack of communication, and poor teacher experience is no longer worth the high cost (and parking nightmare.) We were hoping to keep our son (and eventually enroll our daughter) at Foss as there are few swim environments close to us that are as kid friendly. We know a lot of families at Foss who have had great experiences, but unfortunately, it was not for us.

My kids have gone through lessons with several area swim schools, but I find Maine Aquatics the…read morebest value and quality, given by high schoolers themselves. It's based on seasonal schedules, and you pick the evening that works best for your schedule Mon, Wed or Thursday. Lessons are 30min at either 6pm or 6:30pm. The one area of improvement would be communication response with their email, but other than that, I highly recommend! My kids have progressed tremendously and their confidence has grown significantly. Note-you pay the full season in cash the first evening so come prepared.

So far, we've had a positive experience with the Maine Township Aquatics swim program…read more The pool is nice, which is located at Maine East High School. There's ample parking which is very convenient . Their prices are very competitive to other local programs, which I've compared to. The instructors seem positive, encouraging, and praise students for their efforts. Would highly recommend this program for young swimmers.

We had our 1st trial lesson over the weekend for our little one, and it exceeded my expectations…read more Goldfish is a clean, well-run, and turnkey operation. Staff are professional, kind, and helpful. It's also super kid friendly with on-theme decor, music, and pool toys, and the best part is, it's warm and toasty both in AND out of the water. There are rinse off and blow-dry stations, individual changing rooms, and the staff disinfect after every session. For 30 minute classes, Goldfish not the least expensive swim option, but for sure worth it in my opinion. Great place to get your child acclimated and comfortable in water.

DO NOT TRUST THIS PLACE with your children. They caused chemical burns and inhalation injuries…read morerequiring hospitalization for multiple children. They do not use proper chemicals for cleaning and are risking peoples lives, not just those in the pool but families breathing in air.

The two stars are for the pool, which was fine. But this place operates via poor business…read morepractices. Beware: If hoping to use the pool, you run the risk of wasting your money if weather conditions are poor, and do not expect them to forewarn you. Before you pay, inquire about their approaxch to current weather conditions. Together, our family spent about $80 for 3 adults and 5 children to swim. Immediately after entering the locker room, we were advised that we would not be allowed to swim due to a brewing storm. We were also informed that there would be no refunds, despite the fact that we had just paid 3 minutes prior. No exaggeration. After some back and forth with some clueless, albeit sweet teen workers, the manager indicated that she would "graciously" make an exception this one time by granting us a pass that expired in 3 days!!! Once again, we debated with her the difficulty of trying to reconvene our entire party during the work week. So, begrudgingly, she crossed out the handwritten date on the pass and extended the pass another week. Discretion. This word was entirely lost on the manager/facility. Her willingness to offer a refund and/or provide passes was at her discretion. Clearly it is unethical to take a family's money and simply say, "tough luck." There's a reason the passes exist. And if you can cross out one date, that means you have complete discretion to do whatever it takes to make people feel like they are not being swindled out of what is for many no small amount of money. To the manager: You didn't do us a favor! Your practices are foul and unethical. We were the ones who compromised WITH YOU! To the facility: Do better!

$30 for 2 kids and 2 adults is pretty pricy. The front desk lady was probably the nicest employee…read morethere. The life guards (ladies) are very rude and unfriendly. They said "no spinning in the water", "no jumping", "no diving"... I'm better off not breathing. My sister couldn't even use her goggles when she has an eye condition that requires her to wear them while in pool. If you're looking to have fun, this is definitely not the place to go. The supervisors should rehire their lifeguard staff.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a good class for my son Braedan who is 6 and on the spectrum…read more Classes like this can be a bit of a challenge for him. He started about 4 weeks ago and he is in the Dolphin program which is individualized and has done so well. Jayla his instructor has been so patient and attentive to he needs and very quickly gained his trust. In a few weeks he's making great progress. I am very confident he will develop the skills to be a strong and safe swimmer.

We are in swim lessons for our 4 month old girls and it is going great! Easy location and access…read morewithin LA Fitness.

This review is not for Big Blue but for a specific teacher. Gloria is a real life magical mermaid…read more She is an incredible teacher, advocate, and role model. I'm truly in awe of her ability to maintain enthusiasm, warmth, insight, and intention through lesson after lesson. She is working on another level. She packs so much into a 30 minute lesson - challenging her students to build skill, creating a sense of community, encouraging them to support each other. We've had a few teachers at Big Blue, all clearly well trained, and our child demonstrates more growth in one session with Gloria than a month with his other teachers. I've worked in schools and observed educators in various settings for many years. Gloria has the passion and charisma that I recognize from the best teachers I've known. Even when my child was not in her class, Gloria advocated for his learning experience, working with the staff to make sure he was in the right level for both his age and skill. Whatever you are paying her, quadruple it. We are lucky to have Gloria in our community. Generally our experiences with big blue staff have been positive. Staff are always friendly and helpful. Gloria, again, stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The worst of the experiences in this swimming school Big Blue Swim School is the worst they are not…read moreserious with their classes, they give a class to my daughter and the teacher all she did was just talk and nothing that gave the practices to my daughter, they gave me a recovery class and when I came with my daughter it turns out that the class was fake, it did not appear on the list, I had to go back to my house with my daughter because the class is only 30 minutes and the reception girl took 15 minutes just looking for my name on the list, they are the worst they do not have good organization and the attention at reception is horrible, I do not recommend this swimming school at all for their children, time is gold and here they waste a lot of people's time, do not come to this school it is a very bad school.

**Rating:** (1/5)…read more We originally signed up for a trial class for my daughter last Saturday. It is a far drive for us coming from Chicago, and we were literally 10 minutes away from the facility when they texted to say the class was canceled. No explanation was given. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and had a second class scheduled for today. Just as we were about to walk out the door to leave, they texted us saying they were canceling again. That is twice now they have canceled on us completely out of the blue, without any explanation, and at the absolute last minute. It's one thing if a business needs to cancel and provides a respectful 24-hour notice, but it is an entirely different thing to consistently cancel at the last possible second. When I confronted them about this via text, they dodged the question entirely. Instead of offering a real reason or trying to make it up to us in any way, they just gave a canned "we apologize and understand you're frustrated" response. As someone with influence over other parents on social media, I will absolutely be sharing this experience. I will be telling everyone to take their business elsewhere. This location operates with complete unprofessionalism and a glaring disregard for simple respect for their customers' time. Look for another swim school.

We've tried a few places and we settled here. My goal was to get my son to go underwater and now he…read moredoes. But...with goggles, because they require them to wear that here. Going to a pool without goggles - well, that's another story. At least he is learning techniques to swim. I like the fact they have an app where you can check in, change classes, and see his progress - if something is entered. He was in Bold Blue 1 for quite a long time and it kept showing he had not fulfilled the requirements, nor has done any of them. Then one day...boom, it was all done and he moved up to Bold Blue 2. So one week passes, no progress, week 2 and nothing. Week 3 - one task fulfilled. I don't understand how and when it is monitored. BUT...we go weekly. We sit in the bright room and watch our little boy swim for half an hour. He's happy. We're happy.

The place is so ghetto. The people there are so rude because the people that were PAID to be in…read morewhile I had a membership they were trying to physical fight my sons. even as far as chocking my sons and pressing them. On the other hand they went as far as using tactics to fight my son. This place should be sold and gone. Not to mention the people are repeatedly being rude to my kids and other people ( I know this because my son's friend of friends told their parents to tell me). This place is just so out of hand and should not be here much longer.

I saw a thread posting about swim lessons recently, so I figured I should write about where I take…read moremy kids. Schumacher Natatorium is the swimming pool facility within the Park Ridge Community Center located at Centennial Park on the corner of Touhy & Western, maybe a mile west of the uptown Park Ridge neighborhood. When my 3 year old Stunt Boy developed a love of water parks over the summer, we decided it was an opportune time to introduce him to swimming. We decided to sign him up for the 18 month-3 year old Water Babies. The programs here run the gamut from infant Water Babies to senior citizen exercise classes. The Park Ridge Park district really has a great facility, which is their crown jewel and their newest building. The locker room is always very clean. There's a separate closed-off dressing area within the locker rooms for families, in case dads bring little girls to class or moms have little boys. Lockers are free, just leave your ID at the front desk. There's also piles of blue towels for the taking, so you don't even need to bring your own. There's a big pool, with depth ranging from 3 feet to 7 feet and 4 lanes wide. Then there's a kids' pool with a 3'-6" depth, a fast current area, and a shallow wading pool with a very basic water slide. The pool itself is always the right temperature every time we've come -a perfect 78 degrees. And the floor around the pool is nice and balmy too, so you aren't freezing. The lifeguards on duty keep things orderly, making sure there's no horseplay or unsafe activities going on. A pool manager is constantly on the scene with a clipboard in hand, making sure everyone who's got a class goes to the right place. Since multiple classes take place simultaneously at various parts of the pool(s), it's sometimes hard to see where you belong, especially on the first day of a class. No problems here. The instructors are great with the kids. Most of them seem to be high school age or maybe starting college. One of them has really gotten to like the Stunt Boy, who progressed from Water Babies to Preschool Paddlers to Mighty Minnows in just 3 months. Totally fearless in the water, he's ready to do the cannonball if they would ask him to. Some of the classes allow the kids to advance to the next level as they learn within the class, like the "Learn to Swim" class my 6 year old son takes. It has 6 separate levels, with all classes taking place at the same time, just in various parts of the big pool. As kids master the needed skills, they move on to the next level. In all, it is a really great program and I wish I had a place like that in Chicago when I was growing up, as no city park or YMCA offered this well-organized and well-managed swimming program.