Homeschool ping
We never did social studies. We did history, geography, Mapping, State government, Economics, et al
Social studies is a mixup.
Study each subject separately and give them a coherent perspective.
We didn’t use many textbooks. Most of them are painfully dry and boring. Our kids read various books on history or whatever subject interested them, but then our “program” was not exactly what one would call structured.
I’m a big believer in letting kids follow their interests. Our sons learned an amazing amount of geography, among other things, by playing the game Uncharted Waters where they were the captains of trading ships sailing all over the world.
John Holt was a hippie, but he had some good insights as to how people learn. Schools start with the general subject and then move on to the various parts of that subject later. Think European history, then the various countries. How people really learn though is from having an interest in one particular subject and then branching out from that to the areas that connect with that subject. Think little girls interested in horses and then going on to read more about other subjects that concern horses such as how they were used throughout history or their anatomy or the different breeds and their origins. Anyway, that’s my 2-cents on the subject.
Guess I’m not much help on textbooks, eh? :-)