The whole memorization of "sight" words is the stupidest thing. Get back to Hooked on Phonics and see how much more quickly they learn.
That was how I taught my granddaughter. I told her every letter has a name, but it also makes a sound. So we went through what sound each letter was, instead of their names.
It was funny (in retrospect) when she came out of school one day, just thoroughly demoralized, nearly in tears, and told me she couldn't read. I wrote on a piece of paper "I love you!" and handed it to her, and she said "I love you too Papa".
"I thought you couldn't read, but you just did."
She thought because she was encountering words she did not know, that she couldn't read, until I informed her that that is normal. I find new words every day. She seemed surprised by that until I told her how many words there are, just in English (about 250,000, any given day), and that's only one language.
I learned phonics, too, not 'sight reading'.