I don't even use those words with my adult students! I call them letter teams and tell them it is two letters working together to make one sound. I also teach "kn" and "wr" not as silent letters, but as a letter team that used to have a different sound but now works like one letter is silent. For blends, I don't use that word, either, I just show them how to blend the letters together and emphasize sounding out everything from left to right.

Have you seen my sight word page? That is the most important thing, teaching that anything can and should be sounded out from L to R, all but 5 of the 220 Dolch sight words can be taught phonetically. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

You're welcome. You're right, it's the best reason to learn to read.

You're welcome!