I learned aperture/shutter/focus with a Minolta Hi-Matic-9, in 1969, at age 11. Spent a whole Summer mowing lawns for that camera. Bought the first SLR at 14- knew what shutter speed, aperture, focus were at that point.
The Minolta has full-program mode, and manual mode using the EV system. I learned how to set exposure using the EV number indicated by the meter, and choosing Shutter-Speed/F-Stop combinations by the EV number. At that age- tried for fast shutter speeds, which gave narrow DOF. The split-image rangefinder made focus easy, the parallax corrected frames certainly helped with composition. You could see outside the frames, and no shutter blackout. Still have the camera, it still works- almost 50 years later. Having a fixed lens, a 45/1.7- did not mind it when learning. Of course by High School, bought a 400/6.3 Tele-Astranar preset and was shooting Football games for the yearbook.
ANYWAY- the camera selected is probably not as important as the use that it gets, and that depends mostly on your son. If he needs to hear a motor advancing the film, than a Konica FT-1 or Nikon N4004s might be a good way to go. If he wants to slow down, compose every shot- and that holds his interest, you might look at the fixed-lens RF's. They are cheap- $25 gets you a Minolta Hi-Matic these days, in 1969- I paid $80.
The Minolta has full-program mode, and manual mode using the EV system. I learned how to set exposure using the EV number indicated by the meter, and choosing Shutter-Speed/F-Stop combinations by the EV number. At that age- tried for fast shutter speeds, which gave narrow DOF. The split-image rangefinder made focus easy, the parallax corrected frames certainly helped with composition. You could see outside the frames, and no shutter blackout. Still have the camera, it still works- almost 50 years later. Having a fixed lens, a 45/1.7- did not mind it when learning. Of course by High School, bought a 400/6.3 Tele-Astranar preset and was shooting Football games for the yearbook.
ANYWAY- the camera selected is probably not as important as the use that it gets, and that depends mostly on your son. If he needs to hear a motor advancing the film, than a Konica FT-1 or Nikon N4004s might be a good way to go. If he wants to slow down, compose every shot- and that holds his interest, you might look at the fixed-lens RF's. They are cheap- $25 gets you a Minolta Hi-Matic these days, in 1969- I paid $80.