Though some families prefer to homeschool in isolation, most families desire to do so in community.  Providing for this community is Excalibur’s strength.  We use a number of ways to provide this kind of  support for member families.

Support Group

Support Group membership is standard for Excalibur members and membership includes many benefits.

Excalibur-sponsored events and field trips.

Excalibur sponsors many field trips throughout the year. All support group members can participate in the ones they choose. However, members don’t have to wait for Excalibur to arrange one. With approval anyone can organize an event or trip. In fact, most everything the support group has done over the years was the idea of and spear-headed by a member.

Events have included:

• Annual events:  Kindergarten graduation, Geography fair, Thanksgiving feast, Christmas ice skating Party, Field Day, Junior-Senior Banquet, Ladies Retreat, etc.
• Monthly events: Mom’s meetings as well as one or more field trips (farms, plays, educational specials, music, historica, etc.
• Ad Hoc events: Picnics, play day, volley ball, ultimate, campouts, day hikes, etc.

Excalibur-organized participation in community events.

Theatrical production groups, Space & Rocket Center, and numerous other organizations often offer group discounts or scholarships to their events.

Coop

The Excalibur Coop meets weekly for three hour-long classes to give children not yet in high school the opportunity for fellowship and a fun way to get an enrichment to their academic studies. They generally meet for four six-week sessions per year, Each student must have a parent on site. Participation is on a space-available basis.This is an opportunity strictly based on availability and must be joined in the spring unless there is an unexpected withdrawal before it starts the end of August.

Email

The primary means of communicating with our support group members is through email. Activity coordinators strive to make members aware of any activity or group that a homeschool family might be interested in, whether or not Excalibur is the sponsor.