Early Reading with kindergarden kids... should they be learning to read 9+ letter words already?

My son is 5, in kindergarden and he comes home daily with short books for homework. It is becoming frustrating. Today his book was titled "my apartment" it went on to read things like -has a bedroom, has a bathroom, has a fire escape... etc. These words just seem too big for him to be learning when he hasn't even begun to learn the difference between such things as a long and short vowel. So, naturally, instead of trying to read the word, he is memorizing the pictures. He sees a bed, and knows that is the bedroom, etc. I just don't understand the strategy in this. I remember when I was a kid.. we began with 2 and 3 letter words.. almost mastered them before moving on to 4 and 5 letter words. I realize alot has changed over the years, but I see my son struggling to learn word that "I" don't expect him to be able to learn right now. I haven't mentioned this to the teacher yet out of fear that I'll seem to be judging their teaching styles so Im asking here first WHAT IS THE NORM?