Book excerpt: The "project approach" has long been a tremendous tool for educators working with young children. This is not an activity book but a book about doing in-depth investigations about topics that interest your child and you. The project approach stimulates your child's curiosity, shows the advantages of learning academic skills such as reading, writing and math and helps you build a strong relationship with your child as you share the adventure of learning together. In this book, we have adapted the approach to show parents, grandparents and other caregivers how to do meaningful and exciting projects at home. Featuring many photos of children doing project work this book thoroughly explains the benefits to both you and your child of doing projects together. Ideas are given for transforming your home into a place to learn including guidance for collecting and storing materials, making time for projects, and documenting your child's work. Seven complete examples of at-home projects are shared. Chapters also show you how to coach your child to build skills for reading and writing, mathematical development, scientific thinking, and more. Direction is also provided for adapting the project approach for use in family child care centers, home schooling, and gifted education.