My mom taught me to read before I started school. I still remember the page in the book we were using when "it all made sense"...there were pictures of a "pan", a "fan", and a "man", and that was the epiphany for me.
Then I went to school where the reading books were the Scott, Foresman "Dick and Jane" series — the "look-and-say" method. Nothing to learn there for me, I just continued sounding out unfamiliar words, but the ones in the textbooks I already recognized. Didn't figure out for a long time that the other kids were not as unfazed as I was. Years later, many of them could not spell their own language, and as for reading, they were stuck on comic books at best.
Just recently, my 7 y.o. grandson got into trouble sounding out a word that he is "supposed" to learn by sight only. Grrrr.....
Oh my. Me too. and I couldn't spell. (to this day!) Ditched comic books for math and science.