Thanks all, it is because there is more than one way to skin a cat, for want of a better expression! A controversial request, really? I don't think so.
I have 2 children, one is is 10 and dyslexic and phonics was not good for him, as his dyslexia is to do with processing sounds and he could not hear phonics sounds in his head (too lengthy to explain in detail) and he learned to read words as they were without sounding them out or blending sounds ie: phonics as a great % made no sense, because of the huge variations and complexities of sound. He uses mnemonics a lot as well as a whole host of other techniques and he is on course for 5's in literacy at the end of his current Y6. Mostly he knows words and learnt words by sight.
DS2 is 5 and I am wondering if he is also dyslexic as he has some, not all, of the same traits DS 1 had when he was 5. With my 10 yo we banged away at phonics, non the wiser to alternatives, and it was tough going until a fab teacher in Y2 suggested some alternatives to the phonics method. So I was wanting to try another method at home to see if it was better for him, at an earlier stage.
Children also derserve a lot more credit that you think, they don't get confused by more than one method of anything, they have rich sponge like brains that can adapt and use many ways of being taught. So some of you are saying that reading non school books at home is a bad idea and too confusing as they are not necesarily following a phonics method? Nuts!
The dogma of phonics does not have to followed without any other ways of learning to read, without fear and panic setting in that it is being 'done wrong' you can't teach someone to read in a wrong way, however, you can teach someone to read in a way that it write for them, dyslexic or not.
""Why? They do phonics at school. It's the easiest way to teach them to read. Why would you not do it? "" Because you can't shove all children through the same system and expect it to work for everyone. It is not the easiest way to learn to read for some.
This sort of explains it in a rough sense. reading is not just about being force fed phonics. (michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/phonics-summary-of-my-views.html)