[hsmomx3]

I homeschooled my kids and I can say that reading and phonics was a lot easier to teach than I realized.

And I might add, my kids were anxious to learn before their 5th birthdays. It is amazing how much kids can absorb and learn.

[AlmaKing]

I don’t have a problem with sight words, and I don’t see an advantage with phonics.

What worked for us was simply diligence, insistence, and patience = necessary parental work.

[USMCPOP]

My first-born could read by kindergarten, thanks to my Mom. One time at a summer camp/daycare, they marched the kids around the outside for exercise. A staff member pointed to a sign on the sidewalk and said “That sign says no talking”. My kid said “No, it says “No Parking”. That was before he was 5 and told me I was “brain dead”.

I had to stop cussing in the car in NJ traffic. Someone cut me off and the little tyke gave the one finger salute with a few choice words.

[Ultima]

Kids should know how to read even before entering school.

[re_nortex]

Abolish commie schools! Get the government out of education. Private enterprise always does better. Like anything prefixed with "public", it's a loser:

• Public transportation
• Public parks
• Public television
• Public utilities
• Public libraries
• Public radio
• Public skrewels

[forgotten man]

I was taught to read by phonics in the second grade back in 1961 in a Catholic school. The book that we used, “Breaking the Sound Barrier”, was written by one of the nuns. I don’t think she made one dime from the book.

[Don Corleone]

Why Johnny Can’t Read"

Here's a sight word answer for you..."UNIONS!"

[RginTN]

my niece goes to a private Christian school and as a 6 yr old she can read sooo well. She even picked out a Frozen book to read when we were at Sam's shopping. I think a public school kid wouldn’t be as good at reading or willing to read voluntarily.

[W.]

I could read anything put in front of me when I was three years old thanks to mother. Thanks, Ma! Miss ya!

[trisham]

I learned to read shortly after entering the first grade. I then took my older sister’s book and read it in its entirety that afternoon. I have no experience with phonics. We attended a Catholic school.

[imardmd1]

After doing flash cards with"Dick and Jane Chase Spot wasn't allowing me to read advanced materia, I was smart enough to create my own "phonetics" to learn hundreds of words that were not on our spelling lists. By fourth grade I was equivalent to sophomore high school. In junior high school I was reading the encyclopedia and "Children's Book of Knowledge." It's reading and figuring out for yourself that gives one the IQ index, not vice versa.

I taught my kids to do the same, with magnificent results in a bettered life for them.

[17th Miss Regt]

They have again embraced Dolch Words, Fry Words, high-frequency words, i.e., all the paraphernalia of bad teaching that virtually guarantee sub-literacy.

Slaves do not need to be able to read, only obey their masters. But these methods come from the best schools of education in the country! Of course we should use them!

[Katya]

This article hardly addresses the issue... middle and upper middle school children have few problems reading. The poor and working class, have more issues in all academic subjects, not just reading.That coupled with social promotion, means these kids get shuffled up the grades without having to learn.

[BobL]

One for you guys...

[WhattheDickens?]

NOT ALL KIDS CAN OR SHOULD READ BY AGE 6!!! My son, home schooled, did not read until he was 9. Then again, he was doing Newton and Bernoulli at 7. Many boys’ brains, in particular, are not neurologically developed enough to begin reading until between the ages of 7 - 9. Fast forward - he finished college English at 16 and just graduated from an honors college.
Raymond Moore’s “Better Late than Early” is a fantastic source. Key to language learning is hearing words and stories between the ages of 1 - 5. The Achievement gap would disappear if all children had parents who read and talked with them in something more than monosyllables.