Best method for reading and writing?

[alwayssaythanku]

What is the best method to teach kids to read/write? Maybe some teachers have an answer here. I cant remember now how I learned. But things have changed. I dont want my kid messed up cause the system dosent suit him. Is phonetics better, whole word memorising? Any ideas greatly welcomed.

i bought a book called c-a-t spells cat, which i saw recommended in a newspaper. I haven't done anything yet, dd is only 3 and only just interested in letters and words. The method seems to make lots of sense though, eg not 'learning' b and d together as they're so similar. Good luck.

here

I'm so excited - first link I've ever done that's worked!

My DS has just started school and is learning something called Jolly Phonics. He brought all the stuff home this weekend for use to have a look at and learn. I think it involves lots of playacting to learn letters - apparently quite effective, I am looking forward to reading it (ironic smirk emoticon)

i think its a blend of phonics initially and introduction to whole words that are not phonetic (eg. the). Once they know the phonetic sound of each letter it makes it easier to blend them together.

I taught my son to read using a rather wacky sounding book called "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" by S Engelmann (£13 from Amazon). It really worked for us. We started when DS was 3 and a bit, did one lesson every now and again, still not finished it (I think we left it at lesson 92) but he reads beautifully and fluently. He's 5 and 3 months and reads at a Year 2 level, just as the book said he would. I should add here he's also profoundly deaf and wears hearing aids BUT the phonics method worked for us very well. Now he's also learning whole words and it's all blending in nicely. I read the C-A-T book too and got some ideas from there but the other one is the one we used.