When I pulled my sons from school, they both tested above grade level in some subjects and below grade level in others. They were both below grade level in writing and phonics.
I bought a phonics program which they didn't like. I told them they had to do it anyway.
When they tested at grade level for phonics, I had them ceremoniously box it all up and I mailed it to a younger cousin. They hadn't "finished" the program but had met their goal. I wanted them to have closure.
With homeschooling, you sometimes have to intentionally create that. With public school, you get to the end of the school year and if you didn't flunk but didn't learn everything, welp, you're done with it and know it.
They were thrilled to box it up one last time knowing I was getting rid of it and they would never see it again.
I bought grade level educational programs and these typically had a progress section. I would print it off and stick it in their portfolio.
They each had their own typing program. We had two and they liked different things.
Typing practice for something like ten minutes a day, three days a week was required. I stated a goal of X words per minute as a typing speed -- I think 30 wpm -- and said they could quit typing practice when they hit it.
I knew from TAGMAX that one way to encourage learning to type fast was letting kids play online games with a chat function. One of my kids probably typed around 80 wpm at one time when chatting online.
I know that because I met their father in typing class. I only typed around 60 or so words per minute. Their dad typed 80 wpm. I knew what that sounded like.
We owned tapes of all the Schoolhouse Rock videos. They probably watched the grammar tape the most. You should be able to find these on YouTube for free.
Well before we homeschooled, one of them regularly would talk to me about his school assignments and he could read the book but couldn't tell you about it. I would ask questions and let him stutter and stammer and work out what he wanted to say.
So I taught him to express his ideas verbally as a means to help him do written assignments. After we began homeschooling, I generally talked with him to quiz him rather than requiring anything in writing.
We owned a lot of books and they both read a lot. One read late because his idiot mother was buying him "age appropriate" books and he had no interest in this drivel. A teacher's aid let him look at her college science textbook and then he decided books were interesting.
At the time, he was in an award winning elementary school and he could go to the library every single and get two books to check out if he turned in his old ones. He could do that. A later school only let him go once a week with the entire class and he never remembered what day that was, so half the time or more he didn't get to check out a new book.
Illustrated works are typically more rigorous than chapter books. We had Calvin and Hobbs, multiple books from The Cartoon Guide series and two vocabulary books intended as preparation for the college entrance exam called Vocabutoons.
For a time, I had one of them keep a written journal. He had to write three sentences a day of at least three words. It was okay if he wrote "I hate writing." three times.
The point was to get him over his hatred of writing. He initially regularly wrote "I hate writing." three times and I never said one word about it. He was meeting the standard. He eventually began writing up to half a page sometimes with "I hate writing." interspersed occasionally on days when he just wasn't feeling it.
After I got a corporate job, we kept a post-it note on a centrally located wall with a pen below it for adding items to a grocery list when I was at work. So they can physically write if they must though these days they rarely do. Everything is done on computer.
They both had dysgraphia listed in their public school IEP (Individual Education Plan). This is how schools officially accommodate education-related disabilities.
We had special pens and padded pen holders and similar. One loathed pencils because of the "nails on a chalkboard" aspect. Fine-point pens are often more legible for kids with dysgraphia and gel pens are sometimes less objectionable for kids with sensory issues.
So they both physically have trouble with actually writing by hand. It's part of why I required typing. You need longer really need to de able to physically write by hand if you can type because computers are the norm.
My sister has a degree in journalism and exchanged emails with them for a time as a writing assignment. At one point, I allowed a woman with a PhD to exchange emails with one of them via my email address.
She had a child with substantial issues and they were similar to his. She was very knowledgeable and she clued me as to the existence of one of his problems.
It helped him learn about his issues and helped her figure out how to better deal with her child who was younger than him. With his permission, some of his statements went into her IEP.
For the first five years of homeschooling, my oldest did very little writing. He learned all the pieces, like grammar and how to say what he meant, separately.
Then he discovered Fan Fiction and began churning out thousands of words per day.