To a point, yes. My main issue there would be that it tends to be geared more towards projects that you physically build (in general, I know it’s not all like that but the issues I’ve seen seem to be heavily leaned that way). That’s great for a hands-on teaching tool where you can have all the required parts together and won’t necessarily want to keep the finished product, but not quite as good for individual learning. I’d like to see more projects that are entirely in software to balance things out.
If I remember correctly, one of the versions of BASIC I had at the time was missing some basic instructions (for instance: multiplication). That increased the challenge level just a bit in the times when that version was my only option.
Similar - I found a book at the library with listings, I think they were for TRS-80, and tried to make them work on the school’s Apple II. Then my first computer was a PC so I had to translate it all to GW-Basic, (later QBASIC). I learned a lot by starting with things that didn’t quite work and figuring out how to make them work. And almost 30 years later, that’s what I’m still doing too.
A fun way to get your hands dirty is the pico-8 “fantasy console”. There are a number of good games anyone can play and (post purchase) you can dig through the code and see exactly what makes them tick.
Summer camps coincide with good outside weather, but mostly they are aligned with a break from the school year (don’t know how prevalent year-round schools are now). If you wait for summer to get your kid outside, you still have problems. The cool thing about summer camps is immersion, and I don’t see why one kind is better than another.
