A mom told me the other day that her child had to learn 65 sight words in kindergarten. What is this all about?

I kind of feel like my school didn't try to teach us to read until 1st grade and when we learned to read, I am certain we learned to sound out words, not memorize what they look like.

Does anyone know about this or have any idea of the usefulness of sight words vs. phonics? I am planning to homeschool, so I am very interested in this.