As our 5th child is slowly but surely taking off reading independently, I thought it would be nice to share with you how I have taught the children to read.
I have always started them off by teaching them the names of the letters of the alphabet. If you follow the phonics experts, they say never to do that 
Instead the sounds of the alphabet should be taught first. But I only teach them the sounds the letters make after they have mastered the names. Just as I would teach them the sounds animals make. There is no confusion.
Blending is more of a challenge though. Some children catch it effortlessly but others need a lot more practice. But I don’t push it. No pressure. It is better to have a child who wants to read and is eager to pick it up than a reluctant child.
And once they get blending they are usually off and running 
They start reading anything and everything. Cereal boxes, newspaper headlines, shop signs, lyrics of worship songs in church, etc…
Sounds easy enough right? It usually is if you catch their teachable moments. As I have written in my post on Potty Training, some things are worth waiting for instead of pushing it through.
Our experience
By virtue of being the first born and having lots more mommy time plus an inclination and interest to learn, our first born learnt to read at 21 months with no formal curriculum.
By the time he went to pre-school (before I learnt of homeschooling) he was reading independently. Our second born was reading simple words when she entered the same pre-school. Again with no curriculum. Both of them seemed to be natural readers. Their school used the Zoophonics programme.
By the time it was our third child’s turn to learn to read, we had pulled the children out of school and were on our homeschool adventure. This time round, I thought I should have a formal curriculum. So I did my research and settled upon using Christ Centered Curriculum (CCC). I used it exclusively for both our third and fourth child.
It is, however, a very intensive programme and I found that I could not keep up with it. I ended up using mostly the flashcards and phonics charts only. But I made sure we went through the drills daily. Once they mastered the sounds and could blend, I stopped the programme. We went straight to simple readers. And that was it
With our 5th child, I went through the drills with her as well when she was 3. Once she was quite familiar with them, I introduced Explode the Code books (available locally from The Home Library) to her and she loves it. In just 4 months, she could blend! And now she is the one sitting next to me at the breakfast table reading off newspaper headlines
I had also purchased Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons but it just didn’t work for me. I didn’t even try it on the kids. I just found all the instructions very confusing. I much prefer the straightforward methods of ETC and CCC.
Teaching our children to read has been one major highlight in our homeschool adventure. It is extremely gratifying to be the one seeing the light go on in their heads as they figure out that they can read. A whole new world is opened up for them and I get to be part of that experience. How cool is that?
Once they can read, they use BOB books and the Oxford Reading Tree readers to practice and then slowly progress to more difficult books. We were blessed with these books and have found them very suitable for our emerging readers. Just watch out for toddlers who keep wanting to colour the black and white BOB books!
One last note : As they learn to read, it is equally important for them to comprehend what they are reading. Otherwise, it is a meangingless exercise.
