Real Linux. Real databases. Real networks. Real APIs. Real machine learning. CS 1 is the year your learner stops just using software and starts understanding how it works underneath — from SSH-ing into a Linux server, to writing SQL, to shipping a multiplayer game over WebSockets.
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Most "intro to computer science" courses for high schoolers teach Python in a sandbox and call it a year. CS 1 takes a harder, more honest path: a real Linux server your learner connects to, a real database they query with SQL, real networks they trace and configure, real APIs they integrate, and a real multiplayer game they build and deploy over WebSockets.
The work is genuinely hard. That's the point. By the end of the year, your learner has worked across the stack the way a working engineer does — command line at the bottom, database in the middle, JavaScript and APIs at the top — with a self-directed capstone they planned, built, debugged, documented, and presented.
It's not "introduction to coding." It's introduction to how computing actually works.
Most CS courses for teens stay in a tutorial environment that hides everything interesting: no real server, no real database, no real network. CS 1 puts your learner on an actual Linux server with SSH, a real MySQL database to query, and a real network to trace. The work is harder — and it's the work that actually carries forward into college and engineering careers.
Tech changes fast. Most homeschool CS curricula get written once and never updated, leaving students working with frameworks and APIs that no longer exist. We refresh CS 1 every year — including the machine learning module, the API integrations, and the multiplayer game stack — so your learner ships against what's current.
A "course completed" line doesn't impress anyone. A self-directed capstone project that pulls Linux, SQL, networking, JavaScript, APIs, and machine learning into a single working application does. CS 1 ends with something concrete your learner planned, built, debugged, and presented themselves — the kind of project colleges and summer programs actually look at.
Eight modules across the year. Each card lists the tools and topics students will master.
SSH into a real Linux server and learn to live there. Students navigate the file system, manage permissions with chmod and chown, edit files in Vim, and use I/O redirection and pipes to chain commands — the workflow real engineers use every day.
From static pages to server-side processing. Students structure HTML forms, style them with CSS, add client-side validation, and process submissions with PHP — the foundation that connects browsers to servers.
Real relational data. Students learn how databases are structured, write SQL queries to retrieve and modify data, connect PHP to MySQL, and build a working web application backed by a real database — with security and validation built in.
How packets actually move. Students learn the difference between LANs and WANs, follow IP addressing and subnetting, work through DNS and NAT, and configure their own DNS / HTTP servers in a simulated network — the layer most CS courses skip entirely.
How modern web apps actually talk to each other. Students fetch real data from REST APIs, parse JSON responses, paginate results, and integrate external data sources into their own web applications — the same pattern every modern app uses.
From raw data to working ML models. Students clean and parse text-based data with command-line tools (grep, awk, curl), visualize trends with Chart.js, and train machine learning models in the browser with TensorFlow.js — including a working recommendation system.
Real-time, multi-user game development. Students build a 2D multiplayer game with p5.js and WebSockets — players connecting from different browsers in real time — then transition the same game into a 3D world with A-Frame.
The self-directed final project. Students plan, build, debug, document, and present a project that pulls together the year's work — Linux, SQL, networking, JavaScript, APIs, and machine learning — into a single cohesive application.
Download the complete scope and sequence for Computer Science 1, including week-by-week pacing and lesson topics.
Scope & Sequence (PDF)
“I've taken classes with MYTEK Lab for the past three years, and even though the topics and concepts are beyond hard to wrap my head around, the environment and teaching has always convinced me to stay. The class proved difficult time and time again, but every accomplishment was that much sweeter.”
Live cohort meets weekly throughout the school year. Self-paced version is available year-round if class timing doesn't fit your family.
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