Social studies is an exciting subject to learn but as your homeschooled child gets older, it can become a drier subject. It's not always exciting to read an endless story on one topic. It can be helpful to make social studies more interesting by including social studies games. I'm a firm believer in making school as fun as possible to facilitate an atmosphere more conducive to learning.
Besides social studies games, another way to make school more exciting is to incorporate plenty of hands-on projects. Often times, kids are very interested in arts and crafts. Building a model of a covered wagon while studying the move west or making a wigwam when discussing Native Americans can really help solidify the lesson for your child.
Don't let a subject that can become heavy when laden with historical facts be a dull subject to teach. History can be so exciting and riveting if you find the correct approach to teaching it to your homeschooled students!