Solterra Way Cottage School & Tiny Pool Swim School Updates
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Solterra Way Cottage School/Tiny Pool Swim School
Fall 2026 Happenings
September 24, 2026
Greetings from California
Greetings from Santa Monica, where Vicki and I are enjoying a few days with good friends who have become extended family. We’ve had quite an adventure since leaving Durham — driving across the country, exploring Yellowstone and the Pacific Northwest, taking an Alaska cruise, and now making our way down the California coast.
Tomorrow we’re heading into Los Angeles, where we’re hoping to connect with one of our adult children who is going through a difficult time. We’d like to bring some family connection, some joy, and a little practical help to our sweet Adrian. From here, we’ll head to San Diego and then begin the long trip back across the southern part of the country.
Our final stop will be the Blowing Rock Conference Center, where we’ll meet up with our beloved United Church of Chapel Hill community for our fall retreat. Then, on October 11, we finally head home to Durham!
Meanwhile, Back at Solterra Way...
A LOT has been happening at home.
The new pool bathroom has passed its framing inspection, and the plumbing and electrical work are moving along. The new kitchen is framed and is now open to the interior of the house. Our builders know how eager I am to get Tiny Pool Swim School going again, so they’re prioritizing the pool bathroom while continuing work on the kitchen and the rest of the house.
When Will Lessons Resume?
Once we’re home, I should be able to get started with tutoring right away, and we'll get a much clearer picture of when we can safely and comfortably resume swimming lessons. I’ll start by getting my currently enrolled swimmers back into the pool and seeing how the schedule shakes out from there.
I know that fall schedules are different from summer schedules, and some families will have less availability now that school is back in session. That will probably mean that once I’ve gotten everyone settled, I’ll have room to welcome a few new swimmers from the waitlist, too.
I’m looking forward to being home — and especially to having little swimmers back in the Tiny Pool. I’ll send another update once we’re back in Durham and I know exactly where construction stands.
Reminders/Other News
I've been experimenting with blogging and YouTube videos about the ideas behind Tiny Pool Swim School and what makes my approach different from many other swim programs.
You may notice that the swim videos are on my Saylor Financial Fundamentals YouTube channel. That might seem like an odd combination, and I hope I don't confuse the YouTube algorithm! For the past few years I've been teaching adults about investing and stock options on YouTube. Rather than start a second channel from scratch, I added a Tiny Pool Swim School playlist to the existing channel. Keeping everything in one place made more sense administratively, and lets me spend more time teaching instead of managing multiple social media accounts.
I have a few blog posts about goggles, flotation, and leading with kindness. If you're curious about my teaching philosophy, these are a good place to start.
Recent Blog Post: What Consent and Respect Look Like When Your Student is Four
TPSS YouTube Playlist (The most recent video is the best one.)
Swim Coach
This summer, we tried out some coaching to prepare children who are trying out for local swim teams. Ellie Potter was a junior coach at Hollow Rock Swim Club this year, and came highly recommended. She is a high school student, interested in building her own skills as a swim instructor. I asked her to help with a student who had "graduated" from my program and Ellie did a great job teaching side breathing and backstroke to her six year old student. Ellie is interested in continuing our collaboration with some weekend lessons during the school year, so if you are interested in some swim team prep with Ellie for your independent swimmer, please let me know.
Correspondence Notes
To help me stay organized, I try to keep correspondence with parents in the Wix messaging system (rather than Facebook or gmail, where it sometimes gets lost). The contact form on the Solterra Way Cottage School website goes right to my inbox.
Check out a few images from our trip and the construction below.
The bathroom and kitchen are framed in. Our electrician, Jackson is doing his thing.
The little kid with the binoculars in the Badlands was my dad, in 1941. We are still not 100% certain we found the exact location, but I went with "close enough."
110 Solterra Way, Durham, NC, USA
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