I was taught phonics as a child, but I forgot most of what I’d learned over the years. As an adult, when I began homeschooling my own children, I relearned phonics and my own spelling, grammar and reading improved.
Go back, young man! Go through first grade phonics again. It’ll take you 30 minutes a day for a few months to see it again. Your world will open up.
Use Saxon. You’ll be amazed at how much sense there is in the English language.
However, AVOID Saxon Math. It is merely rote learning - no THINKING involved. I cannot tell you how many parents say to me, “My child has ALWAYS made A’s in Math.” These students can apply the algorithms, but they cannot apply that knowledge to solve real-life problems.
I was taught phonics a child and to this day I hear the word when I look at it.
Worse, I have gotten so old that I can’t remember what it was like to not be able to read...
I was taught with phonics waaaay back when, and although I'm not quite old enough to have used these in a schoolroom, the McGuffey Readers from the late 1800 are what we used the help her out.
They're actually free for Kindle on Amazon - McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader