Phonics quick start for parents who never learned it themselves
A plain English guide to synthetic phonics, the order to teach sounds in, and how to support a child who is mid way through learning to read.
February 26, 2026 · 9 min read
If you learned to read by sight in the 1980s or 1990s, modern phonics looks alien. The jargon does not help: graphemes, digraphs, split vowels. Strip it back and the system is straightforward, and learning the basics will make you a much better reading partner.
The big idea
English has roughly 44 sounds, called phonemes. They are spelled with roughly 150 different letter patterns. Synthetic phonics teaches children the most common patterns first, and how to blend the sounds into words. That is it.
A sensible order
- Single letter sounds: s, a, t, p, i, n.
- More single letters until the alphabet is covered.
- Common digraphs: sh, ch, th, ng.
- Long vowel patterns: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo.
- Trickier patterns: split vowels (a_e, i_e), soft c and g.
How to practise at home
Three short sessions a week, five minutes each. Say a sound, ask them to write it. Show a pattern, ask them to say it. Read a simple book together and pause on tricky words to sound them out. Pair the work with reading aloud time from our read aloud guide so they hear fluent reading too.
What to avoid
Do not mix in older "look and say" methods. They confuse children who are mid phonics. And do not panic about tricky words: the brain handles them once the regular patterns are solid.