Well with the new snapshot coming out with the exp from ores except iron I think this is a good idea. I'm sad you don't get exp from iron because it's plentiful. If you replaced the drop to something like and iron scrap it would make it a lot easier. You could just smelt the scrap like the block but still get exp from it. It would fix the problem all together.
You get the experience when you smelt it. Same with Gold Ore. The reason you get XP from Diamonds is because you don't have to smelt them, and if you use Silk Touch so you can smelt them, you don't get experience.
Iron Scrap