To read or not to read....

My little bugger is reading. Well this isn't really a new revelation... he's been reading since about the second week of school and he's pretty good at it... when he wants to be. We have a few... shall we say bumps in the road in this journey. Apparently the days of hooked on phonics are gone. It may have been a joke growing up but seriously, a version of the program "worked for me". I understand it doesn't work for EVERYONE. I also know that not every word can be decoded by using phonics but I do tend to miss those days.
Ryan is learning how to sound words out and he's got the hang of it (when he wants to). I've determined he is a lot smarter than he wants us to know. How can he be smart enough to play dumb when he's this young? It baffles me. Anyway I'm getting off track here. The "big" learning tool this year for him seems to be looking at the picture. First we are told to look at the picture, then he's supposed to tell us what he thinks the picture is talking about, then he is to attempt to read it. Here the problem that arises... instead of reading "Susie is sees a cat" he "reads" "that girl is looking out the window at the cat." Sooo (shame shame) Mommy and Daddy have skipped the "what do you think the picture is telling us" part of the lesson and going strait to "read it". Which works out fine until he sees a word he's not confident about then a picture with a the lines "I can make a picture out of sand" becomes: "I can make a picture out of glitter? glue? shiny stuff?" Get the idea? He looks for the picture to give him the answer instead of READING the word. It makes me wonder how many times he's just guessed the word instead of seriously trying to figure it out.
I know he's a smart kid. I'm pretty sure the teachers and staff at his school are completely qualified to teach him how to read and that the methods they are using are appropriate for his age. (After all, the only ones trying to teach me to read in Kindergarten were my parents so I'm sure methods have changed) I'm confident he will learn to read as long as we work with him. I'll hop off my soapbox now. :) Happy reading.