Teaching a child to swim

[ScotHill]

Swimming lessons near us are chockablock and the timings and location never really work for us anyway; plus they're expensive and some groups of friends have seen very little progress for months on end although to be fair that was mostly pre-school age.

Anyway, our 6 year old goes swimming with us, went from arm bands to a noodle under the armpits and now is happy doing widths with a float/kickboard, but I'm not sure what has to happen next to take the float away and get him buoyant on his own. Any tips? Is doggy paddle the next step? Do we just take the float away and help him figure it out himself?

There is a kids pool that is probably 3 feet deep, and a standard gradient pool whereby he can just touch the bottom with his toes where the 'no non-swimmers beyond' sign is. He's happy enough in the water, can dunk his head if he holds his nose, and can jump in off the side as long as he knows it's shallow enough he can stand up. He has never knowingly floated without some kind of aid.