I love all the ideas you have! Explaining how computers work, on a basic technical level, is something everyone should know nowadays.

I would suggest to focus the programming on something small, fun and instantly rewarding. Something like Snake in Pygame is not overly complex and you can take it step by step, so that every student will have something to show at the end, with varying levels of complexity. I would advise against using templates for projects, a lot of courses do but in my opinion it makes it harder for the student to replicate the work on its own later on.

In terms of networking, setting up a small test network with a WEP access point, a WPS access point and a WPA2 access point and letting the students (in groups, probably) try to figure out how to access/crack the passwords for them. (WEP and WPS should be easy, but WPA2 would require the deauthing exploit, which is a tad more complex).

Also the idea of cheap usb drives, which they can put on a live distro (or make it come with one) is a great way to start the lesson. This way they can have a setup that’s detached from the usual limitations school pc’s give. (if that’s still a thing).

Do make sure to teach them the ethics around hacking, cracking and downloading. From what I remember, Germany used to be decently lax on all three, but started to crack down on it in the past 10 years. Teaching responsibility and what the consequences are is very important.

Extension on HTTP 418 I’m a Teapot

There truly are toml