Learning Language

While in school I learned language arts through phonics. We would have worksheets where you had to match the picture with the correct sounds. I also learned language from phonics at home. My mom would buy the books which had sound endings on them. For example, words with -er, -ar endings. I believe my experience with phonics was a positive experience. I am not very familiar with whole language, but know that memorization, and meanings in popular with learning from a whole language style.
My experience with whole language has made me a better speller today. Even with very difficult words, if I listen to the sounds in the words I can usually spell it correctly. One thing that I wish I learned more in school was grammar and writing. I feel like these subjects were very much over looked while I was in elementary school.