Phonics

It is vital that a child learn to read so that he might read the Bible. We are commanded over and over to meditate on the Word of God, an activity which is much easier to do when we can actually read it on our own. Of course, there are many othre things that a child will want and need to read throughout his life, but the Bible is the most important.

Along with learning to read, a child must learn how to spell. Spelling is essential for taking notes, which improves understand of any subject. It is also vital for all written communication, and written communication helps one spread the gospel and fulfill duties as a family member, church member, citizen, friend, etc.

Now that we have easily ascertained that teaching a child how to read and spell is important, it only remains to chose the teaching method that is most effective.

Whether reading instruction should use phonics or a sight reading method is hotly debated today. I believe that the phonics method is the best way.

The sight-reading method relies on the child memorizing each individual word and internalizing phonics rules subconsciously. They argue that most adults read by sight, not sounding out each word, and that phonics rules are too confusing for children and have too many exceptions, thus the child's progress is hindered.

Now, it is true, that no matter how we learned to read, we eventually read familiar words by sight. However, it is when we encounter new words that our method of learning to read becomes important. I sight-reader can only guess at a new word based on whatever bits of phonics rules he has internalized through exposure. A phonics reader, however, will be able to sound out almost all new words easily. It is true that the sight reader will make more rapid progress initially, but once the phonics reader learns the rules, he will make much faster and easier progress than the sight reader.

Further, phonics reader has an immense advantage over the sight reader in spelling. The sight reader must memorize every word he wants to spell, while the phonics reader can just sound it out.

But what of the difficulty of learning all the exceptions to English phonics rules? Well, first of all, because of the minimal phonics education in America, most people think there are more exceptions than there actually are. For instance, I was watching a TV show on PBS designed to teach kids to read. It presented the word give as an exception to the rule that a silent e at the end of a word causes the previous vowel to use its long sound. Most people know this rule, but few know that there are actually 5 rules governing a final e in a word. One of the other 5 rules is that a silent e follows all words that would otherwise end in v, since no English word can end in a v. This is the rule that is applied to give, that is why we use the short i sound. I admit that there are many phonics rules in English, much more than in Spanish, for instance, but this is because English is a mix of Latin, French and Germanic words, and thus a mixture of their different phonics rules. However, it is still a lot easier, in the long run, to learn all the phonics rules than to learn one rule and many, many "exceptions" to that rule.

Besides, people who claim phonics is too difficult for children underestimate them. God has given children, especially young children, a marvelous capacity for learning. Children, like adults, are sinners, and as such, can be lazy, but laziness or lack of enthusiasm should not be confused with lack of ability. If we teach with enthusiasm and consistenly challenge our children there is much that they can achieve, by God's grace. If we "train a child up in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6); he will live a life of hard work pursuing and achieving goals. However, if we do not challenge him, he will grow up to live a life of laziness and low expectations.

I intend to use The Writing Road to Reading to teach phonics, spelling and penmanship simultaneously. This makes sense to me because all three are aspects of communication and thus each will reinforce the other. The method described in this book is systematic, with drills to cement learning and lots of practice. The phonics rules in The Writing Road to Reading are not always the clearest and best, however, so I recommend The ABCs and All Their Tricks. Use this book's phonics rules whenever the two books disagree. The ABCs is also a good source of spelling lists, since it collects lists of words that demonstrate each phonics rule.