They've had it better than us at every stage of life and have trashed everything for those coming after them. If they are facing challenges now, they're lucky.
I bought a used Dell Optiplex for cheap and used installation guides provided on the websites of the services I wanted to install (pihole, jellyfin, home assistant etc)
This is by far the easiest method to get started. Learn by doing.
Make all your services LAN only to start; don't open anything up to be accessed outside your home network until you know a bit more, as making it secure requires a bit more time and knowledge.
Hot tip: use chat gpt to help you. If something doesnt work, feed the error messages to it and it will explain why and give you the commands to fix them.
This. I'm a teacher, and I have about a thousand gift mugs stuck in a closet, but I will hang on to that raggedy half torn post it note that says, "Thank you Mr. [Name] for helping me :)" literally until the day I die.
In my desk, I have a special folder full of notes from students that I look at when I have a bad day.
We don't do it for the money, we do it to help you have a better life. So when students tell us we helped, the feeling is incredible.
If you want to make sure it doesn't get mistaken for romantic feelings, just think, "Would I feel weird saying this to my Aunt/Uncle?" while writing it.
Some potential sentence starters:
What I appreciated most about being in your class was...
One time you really helped me was when...
Something you really helped me understand was...
The one thing you should never stop doing in class is...
"Significant systemic challenges" such as...?
They've had it better than us at every stage of life and have trashed everything for those coming after them. If they are facing challenges now, they're lucky.