Homeschool Writing Project: Bob the Builder

James recently wrote two short stories about “Bob the Builder” and wanted to send it to the writers of the show.

The first one he wrote so it ended up being much shorter than what he originally intended. He told me this wonderful long story and then when we told him to write it down, lost half of it because he can’t think and write at the same time. Father has the same problem. I end up taking lots of dictation for business letters, etc. but that is another story.

The story ended up as this:

"Bob the builder and the fast steam train:

It was a Halloween night and I was helping out with Bob and the can do crew. Build a new train station. Just then a fast train went by. The End.”


The next one I wrote down as he dictated the story to me. He does quite well with telling a story and pausing for me to write stuff down. He tells me long stories everyday and then says "did you get that". Ha! Then he repeats it slowly for me to write down. Anyhow, the second story was a combination of several bob the builder episodes

“Bob the Builder, the snake and the Giant Spider!

One Halloween night I was returning home to the yard. Bob the builder, Wendy and the can do crew were waiting for me. I had just rebuilt the wooden railroad bridge. Just then a giant spider arrived. I was so surprised I ran back to the yard and told everyone. Just then Packer came by. He caught the giant spider, packed it up, and took it home to the Wild West. Then a giant snake came along. Jackaroo came along just in time. He swung it around and around and threw it into the Wild West with the giant spider.

The end”

He wanted to send it to Hit Entertainment but they don’t accept stories ideas if you don’t have an agent. So, I found the address for the creator of “Bob” and we sent him copies of the stories, plus a letter.

James said “I would like to make a suggestion for two episode of Bob the Builder. Enclosed are two stories I made up. I would appreciate your thinking about making a Halloween show. I love Bob the Builder. Thank you. James (7 years old)

I wrote a nice cover letter and sent them off. We received this yesterday.

An autographed picture




and a very nice letter from "Bob" that said

" Dear James,

Thank you for your letter and your stories. I think you are going to be a great writer when you grow up. Or maybe a builder like me. A Halloween show would be a very good idea. Instead of a pumpkin, perhaps we could use Spud instead. Bye for now.

Love, Bob"

James was quite happy, Father was quite impressed and we will be framing the picture.

Question of the Day: How did you teach James to read???

Wow! James reads so well, how did you teach him? The person who asked expected a simple answer. What she wanted to hear was “Oh, it was easy, all we did was show him how to read and that was it”

What she got was a loaded answer.

I start to explain it was a multi step process. First we had to teach him how to recognize the alphabet and learn the letter sounds. He really enjoyed watching Leap Frog Video’s and Between the Lions on PBS. It is an excellent show. He learned a lot from them. (her eyes start to twitch and look for a way out of this conversation). Next, we used Phonics Pathways to teach him how to read. (her eyes are glazing over and her hands are twitching) He learned to sound out words and read simple books like “Bob Books”, then progressed to easy readers. (she is shuffling her feet and looking for an excuse to escape)

I decide to let her off the hook and cut it short saying “thank you for asking. It’s actually a long process and doesn’t happen over night. He is doing great.


I guess it also helps that James has a photographic memory. He remembers everything he reads and hears and sees. Once he learned how to read, he needed incentives to read. Sure we read together at bedtime. He reads one story and I read one story. However, I wanted to establish a reading time. A time after lunch when he would sit down and read aloud to me or his dad. Plus, he had to read clearly, distinctly, and loud enough for us to hear and understand the story.

Well it just wasn’t happening. Life would interfere and I would forget to tell him to go get a book. We would get busy or he would get involved in a computer game. When he read aloud to me at bedtime, he would be tired and skip words or mumble. Not to enjoyable for the listener (me)

So! I decided to give him some incentive. I told him if he reads 25 books, he will get a video of his choice. Now, they couldn’t all be easy readers. We started the list and he fell to reading with a vengeance. He whipped through all the easy readers and went on to “The Little Engine That could” and “Theodore Tugboat” and all his “Thomas the Tank Engine” His reading skills have improved. He is speaking with clarity and even doing all the voices for the characters in the story. So for the past 4 weeks, he has been reading 25 books a week and getting the DVD of his choice.

We just decided to make it a little more difficult and change that list to 35 books.


What he read last week

1. St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning
2. Tikki Tikki Tembo
3. Choo Choo
4. Thomas the Tank Engine: Henry’s Bad Day
5. Blueberries for Sal
6. Teletubbies
7. Bob the Builder: Mucks Map
8. Bob the Builder Bob’s Toolbox Mixup
9. Jungle Book
10. Winnie the Pooh Owls Trip South
11. Paul Revere’s Ride
12. Winnie the Pooh’s Neighborhood
13. Mailing May
14. Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip (Equaled 3 books)
15. “
16. “
17. Why Cowboys Sleep with their Boots on
18. Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express ( equaled 2 books)
19. “
20. I love you, Stinky Face
21. I Miss you, Stinky Face
22. Harold at the North Pole
23. The Bee Tree (equaled 2 books)
24. “
25. The Gullywasher


He got his DVD and the new list has been started. Let’s see how long before he reads 35 books.