I used Hooked on Phonics for all 3 of my babies. By kindergarten, they were reading at a tested level grade 2 (and with the oldest a grade 3). I read at least one age appropriate story to them every day before nap time as well. IMHO, the see and say method is the lazy way of learning. Cat is not Katt. Wrong is not ronj. The funny thing is the method I used took about 15 minutes a day.
I bought the “Hooked on Phonics” package when my Daughter was 2 years old.
I wanted to get ahead of the curve.
Opened the box and quickly realized that a “structured” learning tool was not going to work.
Thankfully, her mother, my ex, had in her nature to talk/speak constantly. Thankfully for my girl but it drove me crazy. When I say constantly I really mean virtually every second of the day she was talking.
I attribute this to my daughters extraordinary verbal and reading skills. She always tested 2 or 3 grades ahead.
While I always read to her at night, she never went through any structured program on “How to read”.
Young children are sponges for new information and IMHO, they will learn as long as their parents engage them directly.
When so-called “parenting” books hit the shelves and were all the rage I was immediately skeptical. There was however one book, I forget the author and think it was titled “Touch points”. He outlined certain stages of a child’s development as they grew up. IIRC, the book wasn’t about “do this or do that”, but about what a parent can expect from their child at these “Touch Points”, transitions if you will.