Fun with phonics

The scene: reading through dd2's "Friday folder" from school with help from dd3. I was showing her the work her sister had done at school the previous week. A sheet, obviously used to help dd2 continue to read the words she'd been reading for 2 years came up. It featured a picture of a writing utensil, below it dd2 wrote p-e-n. A picture of 3 males, dd2 wrote m-e-n. So on and so on. As dd3 is seeming to be in the "wanting to learn to read and spell stages" I was having her "help" me read the words by looking at the picture and sounding out the first letter of the word. Pen. Men. Next, a picture of the poultry that might say "Kentucky fried" above it.... word starts with an H - dd3 answer- of course, it's a H-i-c-k-e-n! I did one of those "look the other way and shake until tears roll down your cheeks" and said- "well, yes, good, but another word might be a hen." If you don't see the utmost humor with the above post, that's OK. Paperman just grinned politely as I was retelling the story, nearly falling off my chair. So then I called my sister, at least SHE laughed, nearly as hard as I did. Maybe you did have to be there.