Its SO funny you mention this. My homeschool friends who "showed me the light" first intrigued me by telling me how they would get together with some other homeschool families to go skiing once a week, or more, in winter. They laid out the same time metrics you just did - and also disabused me of the ridiculous misconception that somehow homeschool kids aren't properly "socialized."
The mothers heard of a church about 30 miles away, that had a homeschool group, that would go skiing in Colorado every year.
So they started doing that.
After a few years, the homeschool group fizzled out, but the 2 families continued and added other family members' families.
Then, all these families started inviting friends.
I went on a few of the trips. There would be 30-60 of us. We'd get a block of rooms at a hotel. Group lift tickets. Group rates on rentals.
Each night, one family group would be in charge of dinner for the entire group. We'd all pile into 1 or 2 suites and eat together, recapping the days exploits.
There is nothing like spending time on a ski lift, for 5-10 minutes, talking with someone. Then skiing down in the sunshine, enjoying the beauty. Then doing it again.
Great time for family and friend bonding.
I was talking to the parents of the once jr high student. They hadn't learned to ski until their 40's.
They saw that there 2 kids LOVED it and saw the trips as an opportunity for the family as a family opportunity, so they took lessons themselves and learned to ski, to share the time with their kids.
One day, on one of the trips, Paul, the father, heard I was going to take a ski lesson for moguls. o he asked to join me.
Taking a class together is a great way to build a better friendship.
I was about 40 at the time. He was about 55.
55 taking a mogul class
After learning how to ski at 40.