I taught my first child to read phonetically because that is the way I was taught to read. She new all her letters and sounds for about 6 months before the magic switch went off in her brain and she truly understood the concept of reading words. Once she grasped the concept of reading she progressed quickly by memorizing words (whole reading) on her own. I believe it was beneficial for her to learn the process of phonetics, which was extremely helpful as she picked up her second language. She is prodominantly a whole reading reader and scored an abysmal 50% on the vowel phonetics section of her Stanford achievement test. Yet as a 3rd grader she is reading The Lord of the Rings for pleasure.
My second child learned to read a little later due to some vision and hearing problems. I also taught her phonetically but a friend of mine let her borrow some Dick and Jane books (whole reading). Once she started reading the Dick and Jane books her reading really took off.
The latest trend in literacy education is called Balanced Literacy. It is a combination of phonics and whole reading. As I discovered by accident, it is beneficial to introduce both types of reading to children.
