One thought was to just put the younger two together but I am so torn on that. On the one hand, since we have been home this last year they have really "bonded" and get along so well, they enjoy doing things together whether it's playing or school, and the middle loves to help the younger when it comes to school things. On the other hand, my middle places so well into Bigger or Preparing according to the charts. Having had Preparing to look at last year I am totally comfortable with putting her into Bigger so she can really practice and learn those skills. She already does some things independently in Beyond just because she is such an eager learner but I have learned to appreciate practice, repitition of skills, and gradually increasing them. (It took awhile but I'm thankful to have learned it.
)While I see that Bigger is a teacher intensive year I am thinking this will be somewhat easier with this one that is so motivated and just takes things and runs with them. I am committed to keeping my younger in LHFHG until completed because he loves it and it's a perfect fit, we'll start unit 7 in Jan. We'll be ready for unit 10 in Beyond in Jan. I'd love to hear any thoughts and appreciate being able to talk things out here! 
I could continue to let them listen in and go ahead and bump my middle to Bigger or use Beyond to the end of this school year and start Bigger in the fall while continuing on in LHFHG? If I timed it where they were doing Beyond and Bigger at the same time and let my middle participate in Beyond as desired and time allowed would that be a good fit? I figure by the next year more time will be spent working on my youngest in Bigger and independence will be growing even more if the middle was in Preparing that joining in together will be more difficult so this won't be an issue at that point. I must say I am thrilled to be back! We began last spring with Preparing and Beyond and I felt like I had ordered levels too low and my over-zealous, first-time homeschooling, over-achieving wannabe self decided we needed to do something else.
I went with another program that allowed us to combine more easily but while it is also a super program it became extremely time consuming for me to make it work. We've had to be extremely flexible with our schedules the last few months having to manage one car which means lots of interuptions to the day to take and/or pick up hubby at inconsistent times and I felt like things were so crazy and school was not happening like it should. I pulled out LHFHG for my youngest a month ago and he loved it, I loved it, my middle loved it, even my oldest enjoys listening in some. It was so easy to get through some of it, leave it for a drop off run, and come back and jump into the next box. So two weeks ago I got out our Beyond and decided I would pick up where we left off at the end of last school year for my middle. I told her I had a surprise for school and as soon as she saw the guide she gave a great big smile and has loved it. I'm planning to get CTC and start it in Jan for my oldest and couldn't be more excited. I know it will help with increasing his independence. I wish we had stuck with it but I have learned a lot in my research over the last year and am confident HOD is where we need to be now! 
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) something else. My oldest ds can handle working independently at a table within earshot of me reading to my middle ds, and he enjoys catching stories as he works. If he were sitting very near us or could follow along in the book, he would not be getting his own work done, and worse, my middle ds would not be answering questions and being involved in the discussions he needs to be. My middle ds is much more confident answering questions without my oldest sitting right there. They are each other's best friends, but Riley can quickly see Wyatt will almost always give a better more detailed answer than he can - I'm glad there is not that comparison because he is off working. 
So, my middle ds is either playing with our toddler on a totally different floor of our house when I am reading with my oldest ds, or else he is in the kitchen working at the table, while my oldest is in the living room on the couch with me, and the toddler is watching his educational video in another room. My oldest ds has started to orally narrate to my middle ds sometimes, just when it happens to work out, and that's been a fun way to have them swap history stories without my middle ds hearing it all.