The only advice I have is to try to make it interesting for them and not just additional practical information they have to memorize. You donāt want to be the weird dad that insists on using stuff nobody else does, you have to show them whatās cool about it, and also accept maybe theyāll just stick with Windows for now.
I also think the main takeaway they should have out of it is that thereās many ways of doing the same thing and none is āthe correct and only wayā. They should learn to think critically, navigate unfamiliar user interfaces, learn some more general concepts and connect the dots on how things work, and that computers are logical machines, they donāt just do random things because theyāre weird. Teach them the value of being able to dig into how it works even if it doesnāt necessarily benefit them immediately.
Maybe set up a computer or VM with all sorts of WMs and DEs with the express permission to wreck it if they want, or a VM they can set up (even better if they learn they can make their own VMs as well!). Probably have some games on there as well. Maybe tour some old operating systems for the historical context of how we got where we are today. Show them how you can make the computers do things via a terminal and it does the same thing as in the GUI. Show different GUIs, different file managers, different text/document editors, maybe different DEās, maybe even tiling vs floating. What is a file, how are ways you can organize them, how you can move them around, how some programs can open other programās files.
Teach them the computer works for them not the other way around. They can make the computer do literally anything they want if they wish so. But itās okay to use other peopleās stuff too.
For me what planted the Linux seed is when I tried Mandrake Linux when I was 9-10ish. I didnāt end up sticking with it for all that long, but I absolutely loved trying out all those DEs. I had downloaded the full fat 5 CD version and checked almost everything during setup, so it came jam packed with all sorts of random software to try out. The games were nice, played the shit out of Frozen Bubble. I really liked Konqueror too, coming from Internet Explorer. It was pretty snappy overall. And thereās virtual desktops for more space! People were really helpful on IRC, even though I was asking about installing my Windows drivers in Wine. Unfortunately I kinda wanted games and my friends were getting annoyed we couldnāt play games on my computer.
It stuck with me however, so later on when some of my online friends were trying it out, I wanted to try it out again too. I wasnāt much into games anymore, had started coding a little bit. So on my computer went Kubuntu 7.10, and Iām still on Linux to this day.
But that seed is what taught me thereās more. I didnāt hate Windows, I wasnāt looking to replace it. I hadnāt fallen in love with FOSS yet. It was cool and different and fun. It wasnāt as sterile and asā¦ grey as Windows 98. You could pop up some googly eyes that followed your mouse, because you could. There were all those weird DEs with all sorts of bars and features.
Any experience with teaching kids Linux?
Any one here has any experience with teaching 8 to 12 years old kids Linux?