You sound like a good parent and you are definitely giving your child a good start as regards computer tech. I take it for granted that this the type of attention that you bestow upon your child will not be replicated in school. As far as public school finances, and especially in California, I'll agree that many states/communities don't have the will, (the penal system has more money allocated), or money to appropriately fund their school systems. That, to me, is a community/social failure and has no bearing on whether it can be done, because it can be done and is done quite successfully. Some communities do in fact give every child a laptop, (Radnor, Pa), which is rare, but most districts in my area have several computer labs which are used similarly to any other science lab environment e.g. class time x hrs a week, lab time x hrs.
Personally, I see no reason for every individual class of 7 year olds to have pcs/laptops/ipads in the classroom, (maybe a whiteboard), when it should be a computer lab room treated more along the lines of library time. They do in fact make hardware that can take abuse, (and I've seen worse behavior in some college labs). My point is that simple orientation, basic uses simple understanding of a language, (pick one, it doesn't matter which really), implementation, and basic understanding of architecture/circuits can be taught and it needs to be done in an age appropriate manner. The fact is that many in society do not wish to spend the money and many in charge are idiots--5 ipads to a classroom just to read and answer questions? That's what books and paper are for. Integration is key, but it should be relevant. Obviously, your school's implementation is not.
Personally, when I learned programming, we had 2 papertape, 1 punchcard, 2 line printers, and later 1 commodore, (?, maybe Apple or Tandy) with a keyboard and monitor that sat in the back of our math classroom in Junior High. We spent very little time using the equipment, most time was spent understanding the language. I have no idea what the High School had because I never took any of the computer classes offered. We were only required to learn some COBOL and BASIC in conjunction with math between 7th-9th. Understanding of circuits, etc. was taught in science. Computer science/programming was not treated as a separate discipline until H.S. Most likely, this methodology is all that the general population needs in order to be informed citizens, while at the same time encouraging children who have an aptitude for the subject. Frankly, I feel sorry for the kids being short changed while some of their peers seem to have everything.
"This isn't brain surgery; it's just television." - David Letterman