One way I approached Social Studies for credit through parent-directed in the past was for us to go through the textbook and use some of the assignments teacher-directed students were told to do (with School of Hope) and then add on our own things, like news articles, movies, etc.
I was thinking of how I might eschew the textbook completely, but I don't know that it's possible. You can meet the Alberta Program of Studies outcomes without the textbook, but the textbook lets you know which key terms are most important, they give you the definition they expect you to go by and examples of the term that you should be familiar with--even if this isn't all explicitly in the Program of Studies. Certain specific examples of stories or events can also show up in tests.
Why does that matter? School of Hope, for one, requires a school-provided final exam for the core courses. I believe that mark is worth 30% of the final/school mark. I couldn't tell you where the exams were taken from, but I know from some in the past that they definitely touched on some specific things in the textbook that wouldn't have been as explicit in just reading the Alberta Program of Studies. With the 30-level courses, you're also facing the Diploma Exams, which will be worth 30% of the final mark next year instead of the current 50%, at least. But it still makes a difference in the final marks which may be very important to students.
But whether the textbook or not is used, there are different ways to cover social studies for Alberta credits that don't rely on simply using the textbook, even with the Alberta Program of Studies needing to be adhered to:
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Charlotte Mason-style: Find living books and movies to use to cover the topics. To stick to the type of scheduling as found
here, inasmuch as the units aren't sequential, they would need to be split up and all covered each week. The plan would have to be to do it throughout the whole year as I'm not sure that one session per week per topic ("book") would fit into a single semester. Some of the books might be counted as covering English (and sometimes the list of approved fiction and non-fiction novels for English for the year do actually overlap). For the work part of it, there would, of course, be written narration/essays, but other types of work are also possible. Looking at the schedule from the link, English history, geography, and European history would be replaced with APS social studies topics.
The tricky part for this might be to find suitable books to cover all of the topics with all of the necessary vocabulary and concepts. One alternative inspired by this I could see would be to just use the textbook and break it up into topics so that there is one reading per topic per week with narration following each reading.
Assessments would be through narrations and not tests. Some sort of marking scheme would have to be devised. And some sort of preparation at the 30 level for the diploma exams since multiple choice exams, in particular, have no part of a Charlotte Mason education, but the type of questions asked for the written are different, too.
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Montessori: A large part of approaching it Montessori-style would be research and multidisciplinary work, but also connecting studies--and the student--with the world around him/her. So, unlike Charlotte Mason, there wouldn't be a set schedule of do this topic for this amount of time on this particular day. Subjects would be intertwined as much as possible. However, like Charlotte Mason, real books and documents (or facsimiles thereof) would be used as much as possible. Additional items such as literary fiction and movies would also fit. Interviews, where possible, would also fit, as well as field trips to anything pertinent. The student would be expected to organize and plan such field trips him/herself. Self-directed interests as much as possible are part of the Montessori approach, which is a little difficult given there are specific outcomes to cover, but some of the conceptual things could be covered by a choice of research areas. At the elementary level, especially upper elementary, it's quite common for Montessori schools to provide a list of the local outcomes for a the 3-year span they are in (upper elementary is usually a class of grade 4-6) and the students work through them in the order they wish, not necessarily according to grade level. Something similar could be done with the high school student, even though there would only be a semester or a year to get through the outcomes.
Ideas of work would include research projects, essays, creation of maps, and discussions.
One site I read said something about Montessori students being able to quickly and easily meet the local requirements and then having the freedom to follow their interests. That could be another way to approach this: Use the textbook to meet the requirements and build in time (either during the use of the textbook or speed up the use of the textbook) to allow the student to use those topics as a springboard for their own self-chosen studies.
Part of Montessori is giving certain lessons, although a social studies lesson might only be once in a given week--or even once in two weeks. One
Montessori high school in Ontario puts out a schedule each week of which lessons will be available when by the teachers. The rest of the time is up to the student to manage their schedule.
What is missing at home with the Montessori approach is the collaborative work that would/could happen in a school environment. Mom/Dad should be prepared to be a student of sorts with this, too, rather than simply being the teacher/guide. Discussions are also a vital part and such discussions should be set up in a way that Mom/Dad isn't trying to get the student to realize something or to learn something (like Socratic method), but to truly discuss and explore.
While there are Montessori schools that do tests and have other percentage or grade assessments, Montessori in its original form (and as always advocated by Maria Montessori herself) did not have grades and percentages. A certain level of mastery was expected, but it could be seen through the student's work and often assessed by the student him/herself. Some form of formal assessment would need to be devised to be able to provide marks to the school board. This is perhaps helpful from the above Montessori school has on their
site:
The academic program is rigorous, involving students in accurate
self-assessment, and individualized goal setting that emphasizes
challenge, achievement, and accountability. Self-evaluation and
self-assessment are the responsibility of the student, supported by
teachers and the student’s advisor. The faculty also evaluates
students’ work in a wide variety of ways including testing. Specific
academic skills are taught such as test taking skills, research skills
and academic writing. The Ministry requirements for assessment,
communication of progress and report cards are met. The most important
goal of assessment is for each student to have a clear understanding of
their strengths, their challenges, and how to manage these challenges.
It is essential that students know themselves well and are comfortable
with themselves when they graduate and move onto their postsecondary
pursuit.
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Dalton Plan: The Dalton Plan, from my understanding, takes a particular unit of study and lists a wide variety of activities the student can choose from to show understanding and mastery of the concepts, skills and knowledge to be learned during that unit. Certain activities have to be done as part of the learning, like reading, teacher presentations, etc., and others can be chosen from to show the learning that has occurred as part of a final project on the unit of study. Such units are designed, typically, to take 4-6 weeks to finish. Students are responsible for their own time management with the work that is to be done. Here is an example of a grade 8 history assignment:
http://www.dalton.org/ftpimages/98/download/Assignment_Revolutionary_Argument-8.pdf . There is an additional Lab component at the Dalton School where students can discuss further learning opportunities for their own learning and not as part of assessment.
So, for Social Studies, it would require some serious planning and prep on the parent's part to develop the Assignment and then to do lessons and discussions and such, but you would have another 4-6 weeks to develop the next unit. I could see how some elements of this approach would be useful in a homeschooling situation, nonetheless, and put more time management and personal responsibility in the student's hands.
These students do get marked on their Assignments, and they do have testing weeks.
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Unschooling: This would be the idea that the student has chosen himself or herself to meet the requirements for this course and it would be entirely up to them how they would go about it. A parent could, still, ask for a plan for how the student plans on covering the topics. (They are still students and having an adult check that the educationese is understood and well covered by their student isn't a bad idea.)
Of course, any part of these approaches could be combined with something else. For example, with Montessori, you could set up a list of requirements per topic like one non-fiction book has to be included and one field trip has to be planned and x-number of essays and so on. Limits put in place while still giving the student lots of freedom and choice.
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Do you have information about another approach and how it could be used in Social Studies while covering the Alberta Program of Studies? Or other ideas on how to approach APS Social Studies without simply doing the textbook? Please share!
