Certified ISR instruction · Outer Banks, NC
Swim lessons that teach your child to save their own life.
Little Fins OBX is Sarah Waxman, a Certified Infant Swimming Resource instructor teaching ISR Self-Rescue® to children 6 months to 6 years old, one child at a time, here on the Outer Banks.
- Ages taught
- 6 mo–6 yr
- Monday to Friday
- 5 days/week
- One-on-one
- 10 min/lesson
- Average session
- ~6 weeks
What ISR is
Self-Rescue® is a method, not a swim class.
Infant Swimming Resource teaches a child to handle being in the water alone, starting with the one skill that buys time: rolling onto their back to float, rest and breathe. From there, older children learn to move through the water, and to get out.
These are ISR program facts, not Little Fins' own numbers. Little Fins OBX teaches the method; the record below belongs to Infant Swimming Resource.
- ISR founded
- 1966
- Infant Swimming Resource has taught the Self-Rescue method since 1966.
- Lessons delivered
- 19,000,000+
- ISR reports more than nineteen million lessons delivered across its history.
- Instructors
- 1,000+
- ISR has certified more than a thousand instructors, working in 20 countries.
The setting: shallow sound-side water, Outer Banks, NC
How a session runs
Ten minutes a day, five days a week.
Short, frequent, one-on-one lessons are the whole idea. A child learns a physical skill the way they learn to walk: a little, often, with the same person beside them.
- 01A short, focused lessonTen minutes a day, one-on-one, five days a week, Monday to Friday. Short and frequent is what young children can actually hold on to.
- 02Skills built in orderA baby from 6 to 12 months learns to roll onto their back, float, rest and breathe. A child from 1 to 6 years learns the swim-float-swim sequence to the wall, the steps or the shoreline.
- 03Practice in real clothesOnce a child is ready, they practise in clothes, because most real-world falls into water happen fully clothed.
- 04Then keep it sharpReturning students come back for refresher lessons, typically a two-week session, to hold on to what they learned.
Who teaches your child
Sarah Waxman, Certified ISR Instructor.
Sarah owns Little Fins OBX and has run it since October 2023. She is a Certified Infant Swimming Resource instructor, which means she completed ISR's own training and certification, and she teaches to ISR's standards rather than to a generic swim-school curriculum.
Little Fins OBX is based in Southern Shores, North Carolina, with an office in Kill Devil Hills, and teaches families across the Outer Banks.
Where families come from
Swim lessons across the Outer Banks.
Little Fins OBX is based in Southern Shores, with an office in Kill Devil Hills, and teaches families from Duck down to Manteo. Each town page explains the water a child is actually around there, from the Currituck Sound and its canals to the harbour water on Roanoke Island.
- Swim lessons in Kitty Hawk
- Swim lessons in Kill Devil Hills
- Swim lessons in Nags Head
- Swim lessons in Southern Shores
- Swim lessons in Colington
- Swim lessons in Duck
- Swim lessons in Corolla
- Swim lessons in Manteo
- Swim lessons in Wanchese
New to this? See how ISR swim lessons work at every age from 6 months to 6 years, read the swim lesson questions parents ask first, or read about Sarah Waxman, the Certified ISR Instructor who teaches them. Request swim lessons when you are ready.
First questions
What parents ask first.
The honest answers to the three questions that come up before anything else. The rest are on the FAQ page.
Swim lesson questions, answeredWhat age can my child start?
How long until my child can float?
How do I get started?
Lesson requests
Request lessons for your child
Send your name and email and Sarah will reply with current availability on the Outer Banks, the ages she can take, and what the first lesson looks like.
One email, no obligation, and no payment details are ever collected on this site.