Patience is a virtue - that I lack thereof

I am not a patient person. I know this.

My daughter is learning to read, as most kindergartners are doing at this time of the school year. She has made a huge leap in the past few weeks, but still has issues with a few of her letters. I understand that learning to read is a slow and long process for many. Those of us who've been doing it for decades, and can't remember what it was like when we were five, can take it for granted. How can you NOT know that the word is "sat"?

As my daughter tries to read to me and struggles with a word, I ask two things of her. If she doesn't know it, then spell the letters in the word. Second, try to sound it out with the sounds that those letters make. This must not be the way that she learns, because it isn't working between mother and daughter. I am trying SO HARD to be patient. I simply am not one to teach young children. I've taught college courses for several years, so I do know what it's like to teach. But apparently, I am not cut out for teaching children to read.

I want to support my daughter and help her AS MUCH as I can. But I don't know how. I don't know how to get over my impatience and frustration with the slow and tedious process of trying to get your brain to work out some letters and sounds in your head. It's like when I am learning new choreography for a show. I need to be shown the steps multiple times. I need to count out the steps to the beat of the music. I need to rehearse it frequently in order to get it to stick in my brain. I KNOW this takes time, and I get easily frustrated with myself when I just can't get it. So now, I feel like THE worst mother at this moment. What kind of  mom yells at her kids for not knowing what sound an "s" makes, when she herself knows the challenges of learning something new?

Once again, more proof that not all mothers are built to be the stay-at-home, home-schooling kind. If I were, I would certainly be graded with an F.