Looking for programing course ideas for my son

Dev Zone Code
22

I think you should try and let him develop a “I want to make something”. But try to filter out ideas, which could be too much for him. Let it even be stupid projects, which overlap with what was done before. Let him improve on what he has done before, brewing that mindset of developing new practices and thinking of how to solve a problem in different ways.

And let him find problems. I know that most of people are fine with the products and their limitations. But the thing here is to look at that clock next to a tv, and think “you know what? Im tired of it not showing reminders, calendar, forecast” and that sort of stuff (literally my inspiration for the project I have been working for a while now). Imma gonna go and try to make my own clock.

A lamp in his room? Get him a smart socket/plug (I liked Shelly products). Connect it to a lamp. Let him learn how to control it by rest, then grow to mqtt. Let him find a way to bind this to a macro key on a keyboard. Small steps.

My 7+ years of (now senior) Java developer started from something stupid. I liked to code(php at that moment), I liked to tinker. And I really hate doing the same thing manually more than a few times. I worked in a bank as an IT operator, and there was a piece of monitoring software. And there were filters, which allowed me to do my job more effective. But those filters could not take dynamic properties, so I had to do it manually. At some point I started looking for the filter files in the app folder. Found that I can set them. Then came the part of how to do it. Windows scripting I disliked from the beginning, so I started looking in the direction of powerful languages. And found Java(selling point for me was that it had a console in eclipse, where I could get the results quite fast). First I struggled, trying to go the easy way and find a quick doc for how to do what I want. At some point I realized that it not gonna work that way, and I need to understand the language. So I managed to find a book, in which the author did a good job.

2 Likes
23

While we’re mentioning rpi’s and arduino’s, the microbit is neat too

I learned to program on my calculator while not listening in class. Turned out that was a good trade!

Programming is a great skill. But if you’re struggling to find friends and have an ADHD diagnosis I’d wonder if there’s other things to also consider. Classes that keep you physically busy and engaged with a bunch of other people. Stuff like:

  • Junior climbing classes
  • Wrestling / Brazilian jiu-jitsu

At one point school suggested I get checked for ADHD, at various points moving between schools I had zero friends. Those things would have helped a younger me.

1 Like
24

Welcome to the club :smiley:

1 Like
25

We have a membership at the local climbing gym, actually. He loves it!

2 Likes
26

I would start by questioning the ADHD diagnosis. I am a neuroscientist and my Wechsler IQ was 179 with the 15 battery skills test giving me a 12 above 90% and 3 of the 12 at 99.999% (Ideaphoria, 3D Kinetic Visualization, and Tonal Patter recognition. <the Wechsler and skills were done by Harvard researcher over 55 years ago, so I am not sure how they line up today. Example: my 1st Stanford-Binet was 142 and the 2nd 149 (Back then Stanford-Binet topped out at 150.)

In modern school systems, especially the US, Hyperactive means an annoying kid with lots of energy. “How dare a child act like a child!”
Attention Deficit: is he able to concentrate on complex things? Has he ever gotten lost in an idea or project to the point you or your wife had to raise your voices to get him to pay attention?

If you answered YES to either of those he does NOT have Attention Deficit Disorder! What you do have is lazy teachers, counsellors and doctors who do not have enough knowledge or skill to properly assess what is going on.

Hyperactive is rare. If your son is super smart, I am assuming he got all the way through an IQ test, if he can sit through dinner, if he can have a complex conversation, then he is NOT hyperactive.

If he is in the 99th percentile, see if you can find a Chess Club and/or MENSA chapter in your area. See if there is a Robotics Club, an Arduino Club, or computer club (I will also recommend you lean towards Macs because research shows using Macs increases Creativity).

I designed and built houses (yes, no degree in architecture, but showed my blueprints to my cousin who did have the degree and license and he signed the designs), I collected cars and built cars, I designed solar systems before this was something widely thought of (mostly helping friends have free hot water for their hot tubs and in one case their house.)

The Harvard researcher told me I would Never be able to focus on a “profession” because I had too many high skills and in my arrogance I thought, 'If I am This Smart, I’ll figure it out." About 40 years later, I accepted I will not figure it out, but I will move from on idea to another and gradually move things forward.

Many of my project’s progress make Snail Racing seem like nail biting exciting! It has taken decades for me to throw off the “Look at How Everyone can get stuff done! I am useless,” to the “This is cool and I can do things No One Has Ever Done!” My work in Curing Back Pain is a perfect example of this.

I worked for over 50 years and developed a Cure that requires no sweating or straining and Zero stretching, in fact you will hear me say about 100 times, "Make sure you are Not Stretching At All, not even those ‘good stretches we all do from time to time.’

I am 74. I am still perfecting this work even though many people are saying, “This is incredible! You don’t need to do anything more.” I always see a place to improve, and accept that it is ready to go, if I can find the sales people and someone to run the company <two of my amazingly low skills!

If I were you I would start with MENSA. My friends when I was in the 8-14 range were at the Manhattan Club (chess) and those people were usually over 60.

MENSA will be able to give him much better tests, and the people there will also have great ideas for moving forward.

members.us.mensa dot org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?webcode=ChapterDirectory&site=AML

Super Smart almost Never have ADHD.

Best of luck

4 Likes
27

I can second to this statement. When I was at school (the 90s), teachers were not of the (best? huh…) somewhere close to good sort. Most of the kids were from bad neighborhoods, driving the “love for the kids” even further.

I failed math (basically at the point of “x+y=z” was getting introduced). Why? Simply because I had zero interest and didn’t invest attention into the subject. Funny enough, when I went to the university, although my math grades were barely enough to pass, “Logic” (I can’t remember how the subject was properly called) was introduced, taught by an old good math teacher. At that point I had started playing with PHP. As a result, for math I continued to had C-, and at the same time A’s for “Logic”(and all further IT related subjects).

Same for literature. I think it took me somewhere to 5 years to beat the habbit, introduced by that “forced” reading (of something stupid, making the whole thing miserable). 5 years later I found something to read (I think it was Fantasy genre). From that period I’ve read quite a handful of books.

And there was one specific case. We had a new History teacher in 10th grade. He’s initial speech was (if my memory isn’t exaggerating) “Sit and shut the f*** up”. By this he introduced discipline. But the thing was, he had an approach on the subject (World War period), and he didn’t focus on “dry” dates and names, instead he focused on the story, making us thinK and guess “what happened next and why”. This is the only part of history I remember quite well.

But when I was finishing 11th grade (post-soviet system), the subjects I chose for exams, I passed with being one of the top scores. To this day I remember one of the exam teachers stepping out to announce the grades, starting from the top scorers, and saying “And, a surprise to myself, {me} also passed. But we simply can’t put you an A, because your score for the past few years was D-”.

2 Likes
28

I don’t disagree with this which is why he does a lot of home schooling. We were not fans of the school systems.

We got a good doctor who we trust and he’s certainly on the ADHD and Aspbegers spectrum. My wife thinks I’m too but she calls it "ashole"begers.

3 Likes
29

This course is great:
Learn Assembly Atari 2600

The guy used to have it on Udemy where it was cheaper but meh what can you do? lol I honestly think it’s well worth the $50. The reason why is because the Atari 2600 is so simple which provides a really good environment to learn the bare metal about computers.

There is a lot of cross over in this course with other learning paths, referencing other courses, books, and learning resources. It’s definitely one of my favorite courses and I’ve done plenty.

These books are pretty fun too:
Programming the nes

Not really a course but I’ve been listening to Security Now for decades. I’ve learned so much stuff from their deep dives, it did wonders for my life and career. Security Now

1 Like
30

Arduino is a fun, hand on hobby for you teen. He can make robits or cool gadgets while learning coding and electronics and seeing his project work right away makes it exciting and keep him interested.

31

teach him to make Celebrity Gossip TikToks instead-- better career outlook