Yeah, I've seen the ads for those video "reading" programs and I just laugh. Sure the kid may be decoding and saying words but they sure aren't reading, because they don't have a clue what the story is about. The best way to teach kids to read is to read to and with them from birth. OK, I'm climbing off my teacher soapbox now.
Before I had kids, I would tell my mom all these things I had planned for them too. She would just nod and smile and say wait until you have kids. I learned all the common sense stuff she told me and got for me worked and all the frou-frou stuff I got didn't. She was right but, shhhh, don't tell her.