Q: My 10-year-old daughter, Marilee, can text up a storm, but can't write a book report or a two-paragraph description of an event. She's a pretty good reader, but her teacher says her writing skills need improvement. Are there fun ways to practice writing that work?

A: There are, and you can both enjoy them. Young writers need to learn many skills that are intuitive to most adults. They need to articulate the purpose of the writing; organize ideas, think about spelling, punctuation, grammar and word choices; then edit and revise. And do all this while staying on topic. It's not easy!

First, do some reading on how schools teach writing. Most use "the writing process," which has five steps: prewriting (brainstorming, deciding purpose and goals); writing (getting that first draft down); revising and editing (clarifying); rewriting (typing or writing the final draft) and publishing (reaching an audience). That audience might be her aunt receiving a letter or her Girl Scout troop that reads a report she's written on badge completion. Learn more at ReadWriteThink, an online resource for teaching reading and writing: http://tinyurl.com/22novvv.

Write for a reason: Make Marilee the family communications director. Get her a business card and notepads with that title. Make it her job to write all family communications this summer: invitations for parties, lists and instructions for a campout, thank-you notes and birthday cards to family and friends and so on. This will help her think about purpose, message and audience.

Review what you love: It's fun to read reviews; it's often more fun to write them. Have Marilee review books, movies, music and games. Find good models by TIME For Kids kid reporters at timeforkids.com. Have her share her reviews with family and friends.

Connect with pen pals: Find them through Student Letter Exchange (pen-pal.com), one of the world's largest pen pal organizations. For a deeper experience, sign up for PenPal Schools, an online interactive community that connects learners across cultures to discuss global issues while practicing language skills during six-week sessions on different topics. While designed for schools, parents can get a class code. Go to penpalschools.com.

Get writing coaching online: Students enrolled in Brain Chase, a fun online summer program, can sign up for its Creative Writing Challenge and get weekly grade-level feedback from credentialed writing instructors. Go to brainchase.com.

Learn from a best-selling writer: Newbery Honor-winner Patricia Reilly Giff, author of many popular children's books, walks young readers through the process of writing compelling fiction using examples from her work in "Writing With Rosie" (Holiday House, 2016), arriving in bookstores later this summer.

Start a summer scrapbook: To improve storytelling and reporting skills, encourage Marilee to create a scrapbook (digital or paper) about events, neighborhood observations, vacations and so on. Add photos with descriptive captions. Many kids prefer paper. There's something uniquely satisfying about leafing through pages of memories -- ticket stubs and other regalia included -- at the end of the summer.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: We have a newly blended family thanks to a recent marriage. My husband and I have different views about school for our teens. I'm casual. He's strict, causing family tension. The school counselor suggests we work over the summer to "better align" our expectations. Where should we go for help?

A: Blended families are filled with joy -- and usually challenges. It's confusing for kids when parents and stepparents have differing expectations.

"Generally speaking, the issues are rarely either/or black or white," says Stephen Gray Wallace, author and founder of the nonprofit Center for Adolescent Research and Education (ecareforkids.org). "It's not a question of whether to have expectations for each other's children with regard to schoolwork; it's about having the right ones."

Make a list of your differing expectations: Do you differ on how much screen time the kids get? Whether to take them out of school for long weekends? To demand A's or accept C's? Talk them through with each other, then with your teens to try to strike a balance.

"It is also important to remember that doing well in school is but one metric of success we generally hope for our children," says Wallace. "Don't get hung up on whether this assignment was handed in, or who studies with the TV on. What matters most is daily face-to-face conversation. I call it 'serve and return' parenting that allows teens time and space to talk with you and surface things that may be bothering them."

To get a broader perspective, Wallace suggests three books:

-- "Teach Your Children Well" by Madeleine Levine (Harper Perennial, 2013). Levine's view is that "while we all hope that our children will do well in school, we hope with even greater fervor that they will do well in life. Our job is to help them ... be resilient in the face of adversity, to approach the world with zest ... and to hold a deep belief that they have something meaningful to contribute to the world."

-- "Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations" by Ron Fournier (Harmony Books, 2016). The author identifies distinct styles of parenting: indulgent, authoritarian, authoritative and uninvolved. "Each differs in the extent to which it is 'demanding' and 'responsive,'" says Wallace. "Authoritative parents tend to fare best in eliciting the types of behavior they seek because they are clear about their expectations, but also engage their children in dialogue so that they can understand the rationale behind the rules."

-- "Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence" by Laurence Steinberg (Mariner Books, 2015). The book spells out clearly the new research on how adolescent brains work and suggests ways to instill self-control and responsibility during teenage years.

You might ask your pediatrician to direct you to a family therapist or marriage counselor who can help sort out differing expectations, says Wallace.

"A couple I know took this route with their blended family of eight," he explains. "The parents learned techniques to steer the new 'ship.' While it took longer for the kids to get on board, they did and are all successfully launched in their adult lives now."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: My 20-year-old niece, a college student, will take care of our girls this summer. They're going into fifth and sixth grade. I want them to have fun and practice a few academic skills, so they don't forget what they learned this year. Do you have any suggestions?

A: You're smart to want to keep their skills sharp. Summer learning loss is real for many students. The trick is to integrate their newly learned skills into daily life, says Bill Laraway, who was recognized as the 2015 Teacher of the Year in the Evergreen Unified School District in San Jose, California.

"Don't buy a bunch of workbooks," he explains. "Let the girls practice in concrete ways."

Take advantage of everyday projects such as buying a new fan during a heat spell. Have them research prices and models. Or plan something unique, such as starting a family blog.

Use four teaching principles, says Laraway:

-- Demonstrate problem-solving steps. "Fifth- and sixth-grade math is full of common multiple-step problems that adults solve automatically each day," he says. "Students need to learn them. For example, say you're thinking of carpeting a room. Walk the girls through each step by probing and discussing: How can we figure out how much carpet we need? What is the best way to measure? How is carpet sold? Does choosing a pattern change the amount we need? And so on.

"Have them write down steps, reordering them as new information becomes available. Test their answers."

-- Let them do the work. If, for example, the girls want to go to a movie, make them responsible for the research. They'll want to find out what's playing and check the reviews. They'll have to consider how long will it take to get there as well as how much the tickets, food and transportation will cost.

"Adults make these calculations quickly," says Laraway. "Resist the temptation to figure things out for them. When asking questions, allow plenty of time to answer."

-- Reinforce the basics. By now the girls should have achieved "automaticity" with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division so that they can manipulate the numbers without paper and pencil. If you ask, "How much will it cost if we need two adult tickets at $6.50 and two under 12 at $5?" they should be able to do it in their heads. If not, find math fact games.

By the end of fifth grade, they should be fluent readers with strong comprehension skills. Reading aloud and discussing a compelling book also helps and boosts oral language.

-- Document, reflect and share. "Learning sticks when kids see that they've made a difference," says Laraway, "so I encourage ways to demonstrate this. For example, if the girls organize a neighborhood tag sale with proceeds going to a local animal shelter, have them keep journals. Make a scrapbook of items such as the poster promoting it, photos from the sale and taking earnings to the shelter. Before school starts, review and reflect on the fun they've had and the good they've done!"

For guidance on grade-level topics, take a look at two books: "What your Fifth Grader Needs to Know" (Delta, 2006) and "What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know" (Delta, 2007).

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)