Avoiding " mixed" reading methods

[MrEBear]

DS is still in preschool but will be one of the oldest in his class when he starts in 2016. I put the question here rather than preschool as I thought I would get better answers.

The schools around me all seem to do Jolly Phonics and the old Biff chip books. Which seems daft. They also start giving out reading books before the kids have learned all the letters.

I had the idea to try to get him reading using phonics before he starts school. Therefore avoiding the confusion that mixed methods can bring and he can also go at his own pace. I've got the jp activity books at home currently working on book 2 and we have the Songbirds books but not looked at them yet.

Am I doing the right thing or should I leave it until he starts school?

I once saw a spelling list for /ar/

Grass
Glass
Ass

I deleted a 2nd paragraph before posting.

Essentially the same but:
past
last
fast
bath
path
class
glass
mass
grass

Titled 'common exception words' and compiled by the literacy co-ordinator.

Can you spot the odd one out?

Mass? I don't need to add an 'r'??
TBH I don't know what they are doing - I have never seen an alternative list. I am using old ORT books at home. As I have said elsewhere I trust the teacher to get it right. But I think there is a mums net perfection - not sure the school can just bin all the old books and get a totally new lot? Who pays?

Your school should have paid, with the two years matched funding schools got - with plenty of notice - to spend on phonics training/books. £1000 per year, £4000 worth of decodable books. Perfectly attainable and would have overhauled the books of even the most hard pressed school.

Schools don't need to bin their old books they just need to use them when their pupils have the skills and knowledge to read them without needing to learn lists of words.

In my accent all those words have the same sound (/a/) ??

Those sound the same to me too, which one is meant to be the odd one out?

If you pronounced bath as barth and grass as grarss (as in some accents) then mass would be the odd one (as would ass ??)

Sorry, should have specified the school is in the south and that was an /ar/ spelling list. 'Mass' is the odd one out. Ass would be too.