“only downside I’ve seen with teaching sight words is her tendency to conflate similar words.”
Only?
This is just in the first grade when the students only know 100 sight words. Wait a few years when she is supposed to know hundreds. The confusion will grow exponentially. You are praising this method but actually revealing how destructive it is
Hardly. She's reading on the fourth grade level after just finishing first grade, and is no longer dependent on "sight words."
Furthermore, your argument is just "gun control" with different elements. (i.e. ignore the preliminaries, just wait and you'll see I'm right)