@KidOrnery @eaton A few kids pick up reading naturally, just by being read to. Other kids don't need full-on phonics drilling: they get taught the basic idea that, say, F makes a ffff sound, and they figure out how to apply it. It's the kids who struggle with reading who really need the phonics drills, so it's painfully ironic that those are precisely the kids who get put into Reading Recovery–type programs.