Moderation in Reading Instruction

Based on some of my earlier posts, it might seem as though I'm so into "phonics" instruction that I would eschew allowing children to recognize words by sight. That is not the case. First I will sound out letters and letter combinations with them to assist them in approaching a new word. I'll explain briefly whether a letter has an unexpected sound in the word at hand. Then I'll make sure they say the word correctly before we move on. If they happen to memorize the word, then great! It is counterproductive to require everything be sounded out every time if one is to develop reading speed. On the other hand, not explicitly teaching children the connection between letters and their sounds and the logic of how words are formed from various letter combinations seems to hinder many children in learning to read accurately in the first place, be the speed fast or slow. That's why I'm such a phonics supporter.

Nor am I the type to teach my children various obscure phonetic symbols. Long and short vowel sounds symbols are as far as I will go in that direction for the foreseeable future (who knows, they might decide to be teenage philologists ;) ).