inHisTiming,
You are always on the same wave-length with my researching brain, it would seem!
We have just been going through this very area extensively the past month and pondering our future recommendations through grade 8.
At this point, we are quite sure that we will be recommending Rod and Staff English throughout our guides. Rod and Staff English texts actually go through grades 9-10 at this point. However, grades 9-10 are almost entirely based on giving writing instruction and are VERY technical. English 7-8 are about applying grammar to writing, and are also more like what a high school level grammar and writing text would be.
So, with that being said, our plan is to recommend that families teach through Rod and Staff English 6 by the time their child is finished with grade 8. With our new ancients guide, we plan to recommend for one level of grammar (your choice of either Rod and Staff English 4 or 5) to be spread out over 2 years by doing 2 lessons a week. After spreading either Level 4 or 5 out over 2 years, the child would do the remaining levels of Rod and Staff English at full-speed (4 days a week) to complete Rod and Staff 6 by the end of grade 8.
The reason for suggesting that one level of Rod and Staff English be stretched out over 2 years during grades 4-5 OR during grades 5-6 is that it will give the child time to mature into the higher-level thinking skills required to do the upped level of diagramming and writing assignments taught in Rod and Staff 6. It will also give parents a lightened grammar instruction schedule for a couple of years to prevent burn-out in teaching grammar year after year, along with matching the more CM-style guidelines for teaching grammar more fully in the middle school years.
Of course, those families who wish to follow a VERY rigorous grammar instruction schedule can easily teach beyond Rod and Staff 6, teaching a level a year. We will include a schedule for Rod and Staff English in the Appendix of our new guides that can be followed either at half-speed or at full-speed, depending on the number of lessons done each week. However, we will only schedule through Rod and Staff 6 by grade 8.
We will be including written narration practice, beginning outlining skills, and creative writing practice within our guides in addition to Rod and Staff English (in order to make sure that writing requirements are covered in other ways beyond what is included in Rod and Staff English). So, for those families who choose to use an English program other than Rod and Staff, they will still be able to use our writing recommendations as well.
While Rod and Staff does take some time to present and is quite rigorous, we are pleasantly surprised with the results it is having on our boys. We have tried many of the other big name English grammar options out there (FLL, Bob Jones, ABeka, Easy Grammar, and just plain old fun jingles/stories/rhymes, etc.) and have found little retention and more time involved with reteaching than if we'd just presented it ourselves from the beginning. We've decided that English instruction and writing instruction are going to take time to present and are worthy of our time. No other mode of communication has more impact of how others perceive us then the way we express ourselves does (both in speaking and in writing). We desire for our kiddos to be well prepared for both. We are also very pleased with the Biblical content and focus of Rod and Staff English, as the ultimate goal in speaking and writing is to glorify our Father in heaven.
Blessings,
Carrie
Here I am again...with a question about guides you haven't even written yet. I am just wondering how long you plan to use Rod & Staff...does it go all the way to level 8 (8th grade)? Will you be switching to something else in future guides...and do you know what it would be? 
