They are right, if all you know are the single letter sounds, dipthongs and tripthongs.
When homeschooling our kids, I figured the highest level of literacy in the USA was in the Victorian Era.
I searched for school books from the era when adults of that era were educated, the 1830s and 1840s.
I found there were two sets of phonics rules that have been forgotten since that time, the silent letter rules and the substitute letter rules.
Once you know them, you can sound out almost every word in our crazy language.
I don't wish to incur the wrath of those who would claim I'm pimping my website, so tough luck.
You'll have to search for them on your own.
Try searching for ed sanders phonics.
You should come to either the rules or a clickable table of the rules.
I remember a few years ago that there were commercials running on TV adverting Phonics courses to teach children to read. Not today! I guess Common Core and the teachers unions banned them?
Yes. A properly-designed phonics system will account for the fact that we are trying to stuff ~44 sounds into 26 letters. But this does not make English non-phonetic, merely phonetically complex when compared, say, with Spanish.
Yes! Our reading program went through all that. Given I did not really know what I was doing, I asked a lady with 7 homeschool children for the reading program I should use and she tipped me off. My son was reading at the eighth grade level in third grade!
What is amazing about homeschool is that you don’t have all the interruptions of herd school, so my son could really concentrate on what he was doing. We did not always jump around subject to subject; spending the time he wanted to spend on reading or math, etc. in those early years. We got so close and he was so happy. When he learned to read, he read books like crazy. I made him write book reports.
He got interested in historical novels which helped at history lesson time. I went to a used book store that had a ton of antique American school books. The novels were geared towards the interests and nature of boys. The best was old American civic books that taught about the constitution and American ethics (character) to children. It was Christianity in action - in all aspects of American life.
They don’t teach the children to memorize their math tables in public schools anymore, either! There is so much to say about homeschool...it was just wonderful for him. While in college he actually told me that I saved his life, pulling him out of public school. They were making noises about maybe he should be on Ritalin when I pulled him out!
One of my little sisters, while in college, was having a hard time reading college level text books. I sent her my son’s reading program and it helped her a lot. Then she wanted his math and science programs. She had never learned to memorize the simple math tables, although she could limp through simple math with other techniques!