My kids go to a school that teaches phonics. Some of my teacher friends have told me that phonics is antiquated, so it does make me happy to see that perhaps it is the best method of learning to read. It has worked well for kids so far.
I will say though that the school's method of teaching phonics is much more rigorous than anything I ever learned as a kid. They have a long list of graphemes (letters and letter combinations), and they need to be able to recite all the phonemes (sounds) that each grapheme can make. I have a hard time answering their phonics questions, like if they ask me what sounds "ou" makes. It can make at least four sounds, e.g. sour, group, court, country. I can't confidentially help them without a cheatsheet.
I will say though that the school's method of teaching phonics is much more rigorous than anything I ever learned as a kid. They have a long list of graphemes (letters and letter combinations), and they need to be able to recite all the phonemes (sounds) that each grapheme can make. I have a hard time answering their phonics questions, like if they ask me what sounds "ou" makes. It can make at least four sounds, e.g. sour, group, court, country. I can't confidentially help them without a cheatsheet.