When reading, it is the sound of the letter your child will need to know, more than its name. When learning letters, teach both the sound and the name. Point to the letter C, for example, and tell your child the name of the letter and the two sounds it makes, providing examples such as cat and cent. Have your child repeat the sounds and give examples of other words that start with these sounds. Be flexible in how your child pronounces the sounds. When auditory skills are developing, it is difficult for children to say many sounds correctly. Praise your child for reasonable effort and realize that learning sounds is just a stepping stone toward learning to read. At times, parents will mistake auditory and memory deficits for laziness. If a child isn't reading, it is probably due to slow recall of letter sounds or difficulty putting word parts together.
Your child will encounter lowercase letters much more often than capital letters, so teach lowercase letters first. Sites like Starfall.com provide activities that teach the entire alphabet focusing on lowercase letters. Children select the letter and hear the letter sound along with several words that begin with that letter. An animated clip or song accompanies the letter, which aids in memory recall.
Limit the initial vocabulary your child is exposed to and focus on repetition. Not all words can be deciphered using phonics, and your child will be more interested in reading if he does not have to sound out each word. For this to be possible, many words need to be learned by sight. Teach only simple, common words when you first begin and come back to them often. Reread an easy reader book each day. Your child will be thrilled that he can read the book with very little help, and he will begin recognizing the words he sees often. Recognition of 400 key words, called Dolch words, is all that is needed in order for a young child to be able to read well.
Many online sites focus on phonics-based systems, but most recognize that children are less interested and motivated by phonics alone. Where the phonetic approach introduces rules such as how the use of the letter "e" at the end of words changes the vowel, the whole language system emphasizes site word memorization. This is essential because many words do not follow phonics rules. A blend of both is ideal, as we need phonics to teach children how words sound and they need a wide vocabulary of memorized site words in order to achieve reading fluency.