Stupid Phonics Rules

Where are you located?
My daughter learned reading without phonics (we're in southern California)
and just last week a friend of mine told me that she's always had difficulties spelling (as an adult) due to being taught phonics in school. She's from North Dakota originally.

I was taught phonics in passing (nuns, maybe fourth grade, a few weeks).

I didn't mind knowing that. Late 40's, I'd guess, or early '50's.

I am in Massachusetts. I am not really opposed to phonics, as far as learning letter sounds and sounding out words.

I think that most kids (particularly those who learn on their own) end up doing a combination of techniques. My daughter sounded out words, but by far the most important activity was for her and I to sit with a book and read together.

Stupid rules bother me in any topic. As my kids know I always break rules as a matter of principle.

The thing that really bothers me about phonics is that it has become a political wedge. Politicians have set themselves against educators to put phonics as a mandate in schools (in spite of what educators understand).

Outside of the politicians, I think most educators understand that good education uses a mix of a variety of techniques to meet the needs of diverse students.

Really osso? My daughter did not learn phonics in catholic school.
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Max, then you'll have a bumpy road ahead of you. She's only in first grade.
I had most problems with math and how it is taught in the U.S. The European way is much faster and more logical and better to understand - and we're talking simple divisions and multiplications here. I tried to
teach my daughter the European way but then she got confused with what her teacher taught her, so I backed off, but they couldn't have found a more complicated way, really.

Laughs. I was in fourth grade in 1950. That would have been St. Nick's. Or maybe I learned that stuff in fifth.

I think what I got of phonics helped me, but it was no concerted program, just some classes off and on. I would say minimal, just explanations. I later studied latin to a paralyzing degree, italian as a kind of early ap thing, german in early university, spanish from pals, and italian on purpose as an old person.

In my memory, phonics was interwoven.
Remember, I'm slightly older than boomers here.

I was in fourth grade in the late 70s. We had funny little anthropomorphic monsters for each letter sound, but I learned to read before I started school and these were pretty useless. I learned to read the same way my daughter did. My parents put books in my hands and read with me.

I also remember as a kid realizing the the exercises we were being asked to do were useless. I hated diagramming sentences because at the time I realized they didn't teach me anything about grammar that I was already using proficiently.