This Little Season

I’ll be honest — I had no idea what phonics was when my child first started learning to read. Growing up, we were never taught this way. We memorised our spelling lists, read aloud in class, and just… picked it up. Reading just happened.

So when my child started preschool, I was pretty relaxed about academics. I figured we’d get to it eventually. But everything changed when the teacher called one day, gently explaining that most of the class already knew a bit of phonics — but my child didn’t. She was struggling to keep up, and it was making her feel anxious and unsure of herself.

That phone call left me completely lost.

I didn’t know what phonics was. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. And I definitely didn’t want to become one of those parents who drills flashcards every night or keep sending my kids to tuition classes.

But I knew I had to understand what my child was learning — if only to help her feel less alone.

Phonics in a nutshell

Basically, phonics is a method of teaching children how to read and write by helping them connect the sounds of spoken language with the letters or groups of letters that represent those sounds. It’s all about decoding — understanding that the letters on a page are not just shapes, but clues to how a word sounds.

For example:

• The word cat has three sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/
• Children learn to blend those sounds together to read the word: c-a-t → cat

Phonics focuses on teaching children these sound-letter relationships systematically. Over time, they learn to recognise patterns (like ch, sh, or igh) and apply them when reading new words.

The goal is to give children the tools to decode new words on their own, rather than memorising everything by sight.

So… we tried a phonics class (of course!)

Like many parents, once I understood a little more about phonics, my first thought was: Okay, let’s just send her to a class.

And we did. But it was a bit of a hit and miss.

One group class actually made things worse. Everyone else seemed to already know their letter sounds and could blend words confidently — but my child wasn’t there yet. She was enrolled at the right age group, but she was just not at that level. Instead of helping, it made her even more anxious. She felt like she was constantly catching up, and I could see her confidence dip.

Eventually, we were lucky to find a wonderful school with an amazing teacher who understood exactly what she needed. They offered one-on-one sessions, and tailored a crash course to help build her foundation gently, without the pressure of keeping up with the group. It gave her space to learn at her own pace, and I could see her start to bloom again. We also didn’t want her to miss her childhood, so once we felt she was catching up, we did not renew the term.

What (kind of) helped at home

While she was getting support from her teacher, we also did a few simple things at home. We didn’t have a fixed plan, and it was nothing formal or overwhelming. Honestly, we were just trying different things to see what clicked — and some worked better than others.

Here’s what we tried:

Educating myself first

I had to learn phonics from scratch too. I started by following some teacher and phonics-focused Instagram accounts (there are so many helpful ones out there), and slowly picked up the basics: letter sounds first, then beginning blends, then ending blends.

I’d practise saying the sounds out loud and repeat them with her throughout the day — during meals, car rides, even while brushing teeth. It wasn’t anything structured, just gentle reminders and casual learning moments. A big part of helping her feel more confident was me knowing what I was talking about. And learning together made it feel a little less intimidating for both of us.

Assessment books from Popular:

I know, classic. But they really came through for us. I didn’t overload her with the thick, intense ones — instead, I picked really basic books that started from the beginning: letter sounds, simple blends, big fonts, lots of colouring and sticker activities.

We’d sit down together for just 15 minutes a day, and because I was doing it with her, it felt more like a shared activity than homework. Honestly, these little moments added up.

Readers and flash cards from Letterland

I ordered a whole bunch of flash cards and early readers from the Letterland series — partly because that’s what her school was using, so there was already some familiarity. It felt like a natural way to reinforce what she was learning in class.

But to be honest, she’s just not a flash card kind of kid. We used them now and then, but they didn’t spark much excitement. They weren’t a game-changer — more like gentle background support. The readers were better and helped more.

Watch Alphablocks

If you’re okay with some screentime, Alphablocks on YouTube (or Netflix) was actually pretty helpful — and surprisingly fun. My kids laughed at it constantly, and without realising it, they started picking up letter sounds just from watching the episodes. The characters are cute, the songs are catchy, and it sneakily reinforces blending and segmenting in a way that doesn’t feel like learning at all.

Reading storybooks at bedtime

We kept our bedtime routine simple: a story or two every night, sometimes read by me, sometimes by them (even if they could only manage a few words). It wasn’t about correcting pronunciation or drilling letter sounds — it was just a calm way to build confidence, vocabulary, and a love for stories. Over time, I noticed my child starting to point out familiar words and sound out new ones, just because we made reading a habit.

One of her favourites was the Pete the Cat series — the repetitive, rhythmic style made it easy for her to join in, and the silly stories kept things light. She started recognising words just from hearing them again and again, and those moments helped her realise, “Hey, I can read this!”

Printed worksheets from Canva

One thing that really helped was using Canva to find fun phonics worksheets. I searched for beginner-level sheets — letter tracing, sound-matching, simple word building — and printed them out at home. There were plenty of free designs that felt more playful than textbook-y. It was low-pressure and actually quite fun (especially if I allow her to colour with fancy markers or use stickers to decorate her work!).

Slowly but surely…

I’m glad we didn’t give up after that rocky start. We tried a mix of things — some worked, some didn’t — and just kept going. What helped most wasn’t a perfect method, but being there, sitting beside her and learning together.

And honestly? I still struggle. I can’t always tell the difference between long and short vowels. I still Google phonics terms now and then. But I’ve learnt just enough to support her — and that’s what matters.

If you’re feeling lost too, you’re not alone. I’ll be sharing a simple Phonics Basics for Parents post soon — just to make it a little less confusing.

We’re all figuring it out, one sound at a time. 💛