[nathanbedford]

Sound thinking, you are right in all respects.

[RonHolzwarth]

Well, they say experience is the best teacher! I learned the hard way - reading ahead in my second grade reading book, I read about "Clown IZ - Land.

I wondered at what a marvelous place an IZ - Land must be, as it sounded like a wonderfully fun place, full of clowns, and I sure hoped to visit an IZ - Land one day!

The next day, the teacher acted like I was incredibly dumb.

The word is not "is", followed by "land". It's just an island, silly!

Well, I already knew what THAT was! After that, my education went downhill fast, there would never be a wonderful IZ - Land to visit, and so I simply buried my head in books.

[nathanbedford]

Two of my kids have learned to read phonetically, but in German. They have had no particular problem applying the phonics concepts to English, learning the exceptions as they go.

Another learned sight reading when phonics led him to a dead end in English. He was then able to get the phonics for German and now reads a great deal for pleasure in either language.

I never cautght on to phonics until late in life, tought myself to sight read and got over 700 on verbal but cannot spell to this day.

There is no one route to reading heaven in english except parental attention and reading itself. Thank God for Mark Twain who made me love books.