How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers (2019)
I learned to read at home, as did my parents, and my kids. My mom used what i think is called "phonics," where we learned the letters, then learned to sound out words. Written English isn't perfect, but it has a phonetic alphabet, suggesting a clue as to how reading works in a language with a phonetic alphabet.<p>Everybody I know who has taught their own kids uses phonics. Most don't use a manual or any special teaching materials other than starting with really easy words.<p>Now there's another factor as well: We learned to read without the stress and pressure of learning it in a classroom. We had time to break it up into tiny pieces throughout the day. I see parents out with their kids. They'll point to a sign, and say: "What's that word?"<p>Also, we were given time to read on our own rather than moving on to the next subject, because there were no other subjects at home.