I agree that phonics is not needed for kids who are already reading well.
Our school teaches phonics coding in 1st grade which is used through approximately fourth grade. Our daughter skipped from PS 2nd to 3rd at this school. Lucky for her, ds was in 1st and could help her with the portions of her homework that still required coding. Neither kid ever used it for help in reading, but it is the way our school teaches reading. Worst case (if she didn�t have ds), she would have had lower grades in LA for the early elementary years, but the phonics focus dissolves by 5th grade.
Speaking of phonics, I saw �Hooked on Phonics for Babies� yesterday at Sam�s Club.
