i am not a teacher, yet i have taught three kids at three different ages to read using phonics... it is not rocket science... so glad i learned to read using phonics... the sad thing is—back in the early to mid-70s—kids in my class who didn’t pick up reading as easily were taught using the whole-word method... so they had two things going against them... not readily inclined toward reading... being taught using an inferior method...
My twin girls started school in Tennessee which uses phonics. When they were in first grade, I moved to Maine where they use whole word. My daughters in first grade were spelling phonetically with a southern accent. The teacher wanted to put them in remedial reading. I refused. At 23, their reading has obviously improved, but they still have problems with spelling quite often.