Just from my personal perspective, I can’t fathom phonetics at all. It can’t be right for all children.
I was reading at 4 (was just read to a lot, no pre-school)and have NEVER “sounded out” a word in my entire life. In third grade I was reading at a 12th grade level, and I scored 780 on the SAT verbal, and 800 on the GRE verbal.
I’ve always sight-read or “whole word” read.
Had some embarassment over mispronouncing words I knew but had never heard or sounded out, but I can’t fathom how tedious it must be to have to learn to read by sounding out syllables.
On the other hand, I have some sort of learning disorder about learning foreign languages - just hopeless at all three of them I tried.
Perhaps we were separated at birth - see my earlier post. Also learned whole words at four. Good at languages, imbecilic at arithmetic.
Not tedious at all actually. How did you deal with words you were unfamiliar with?
Just a few minutes ago, I "sounded out" the word "Youghiogheny."
I am positive we were taught sight reading. It did not take me long to learn to read, and I have not slowed down since.
I first encountered phonics in college, and it made sense to me, but I could read quite well by then.
My SAT scores were close to yours, and I also made 800 on the GRE verbal.
My older son was in private school in kindergarten through fifth grade. Their curriculum was heavily phonics based. Starting about third grade, he began to really struggle, particularly with spelling. When I sat down with him to work with him, I realized that something was wrong. He was tested and found to be dyslexic.
He still is dyslexic. Phonics have never made any sense to him, and in fact made his attempts to learn to read more difficult, not less so. He really made improvements when we pulled him out of the private school and homeschooled him for a year. I threw the phonics out the window, and also had him spend time every day reading something just for enjoyment.
I can't tell you how many times I've wished we'd pulled him out and homeschooled him sooner. He became convinced he was "dumb" and I've told him many times that "dumb" people don't learn to read in spite of having dyslexia (and dysgraphia). He has struggles with math, too. He does have a tech school certificate and is now attending college, taking developmental classes right now but putting a lot of effort into it and determined to "get that piece of paper" as he puts it.
My conclusions? 1: there is no one right way to teach every child and 2: pushing square pegs through round holes doesn't do a lot for the peg, the hole, nor the ones doing the pushing.
You weren’t reading sight-words. Your brain cracked phonics, as often happens. Your brain was reading syllables. I believe. As the article says, like some kids “get” music.
I only mention this because one of the biggest problems we have when trying to eliminate sight-words is that many smart people sincerely believe the method worked for them. So they don’t oppose it. Alas.
You just have to ask this question; did you suddenly at the age of 5 or 7 memorize 10,000 designs? 25,000 designs?? Not humanly possible.