why isn't learning to read easier?

Why isn't learning to read easier? Why are there all these stories out there of parents that didn't do much of anything and ended up with a natural born reader by kindergarten? I've noticed that most (if not all) of these stories have a taste of "whole-language" to them (in other words, child sees an entire word and knows that "orangutan" means a big furry ape-like creature). I find these stories very frustrating, since my children, thus far, have never seen a whole word & will never learn to read this way. I can tell that they will never learn to read without some sort of daily instruction and practice. But it seems so painful! And so disheartening to a homeschool mom that hears yet another success story of a child learning to read without any formal instruction. I want that too! My main goal for my children is to have them reading well ASAP. Why? Because there is so much joy in books, and I know they would get so much more from their books if they could read them. Because, sure you can learn things without reading them, but the information comes so much faster, easier, and better from print. I feel like we would enjoy our school so much more if DD5 could read. We do have many successes during our days. Yesterday DD5 brought down a book from the grown-up library because she could read one of the words in the title (the book was God After All, and she saw the word God). We do have these wonderful moments when a word clicks with DD5 and she has read something off of a sign. And yesterday, she sat at the computer and typed out "the orange cat" and had me make stories out of it (a story starter). Today, I am just wondering when will this reading thing happen a little faster? When will she read a sentence easily and maybe only find one word that she couldn't read before? It just seems such a slow and painful process sometimes!! I know there will come a point when she easily reads most words in easy reader books and the rest will build upon that naturally. But when?