Just a thought for practising the spelling of his words, can you use different things so he doesnt have to just do the LCWC- for eg, do look cover and then make the words from playdough, or use the magnetic fridge letters, use shaving cream/ sand on the table and write with your finger, cut the letters out of a magazine/ newspaper to spell out the words.
From having taught JP from a few years I know it can be tough to motivate them to do their spelling and changing how they have to spell out there words can often be the motivator.

As for stressing about learning to read (and I hate to gender specify here) but from my experience with boys they tend to cruise along for a while, and then get it all in a rush- I have known boys in year 1/2 to go from being able to read 50 sight words to over 200 sight words in the space of a term.
Maybe if he is finding the reading books boring you can discuss with his teacher that a couple of nights a week he can read a book of his choice from home/ library etc.