Joining A Homeschooling Group

When we first started homeschooling Kyle I had joined a local homeschooling group for a $25 yearly membership fee.  I didn't renew the membership because I felt like I wasn't getting anything out of the group; most of the activities and events they planned were located too far from East Providence and almost everything took place at times in which someone was napping around here.  I wasn't willing to make much of an effort because I was still working full-time (babysitting) and I was trying to figure out the best ways to homeschool Kyle in general.
Times have changed since our 1st year of homeschooling though; I'm no longer working full-time (which sucks financially!), we've long since fallen into a fantastic homeschooling routine and the kids are a little older.  Soon Kyle will be in the 5th grade and Bella will be an official "kindergartener".  Also, after doing some brief research on the homeschooling group website, it seems like they offer quite a bit of local things now.
The group is large enough to where it is sectioned off into "Chapters", with one of those Chapters being located right here in East Providence.  We only know of one other (local) homeschooling family and they are a part of this group as well.
When Kyle was Bella's age he attended a private preschool program and then went on to attend public kindergarten.  It was during those few years that he met some kids in our neighborhood whom he became friends with, but I would say that within the past year or two many of those kids have kind of forgotten about him.  They're busy doing things with their friends whom they see on a daily basis at school.  For a while I felt sad whenever I would hear about his "friends" going to the movies, or hanging out after school, or attending birthday parties but eventually I learned to accept things for what they are.  I was hopeful that Kyle would make new friends by being involved with Cub Scouts, Karate and Baseball but that really didn't happen because most of the Cub Scouts are a group of boys from the local school, the kids in Karate aren't really allowed to "socialize" and now Kyle has decided that he doesn't want to continue on with baseball (which is perfectly fine with me).
By joining the homeschooling group we should have a better opportunity to meet and make new friends who homeschool within our community, which would benefit all of us!
Both Kyle and Bella are outgoing kids - they have no problem engaging in play with new kids at the park; most of the time they're the ones to initiate!  And while it's true that they always have each other to play with I know that they both crave to play with "friends", too.  So, we'll see what this new journey brings us!!!