The single biggest change in this little corner of crochet is the magic ring. Ten years ago a beginner flower pattern almost always told you to chain four and join into a ring, and you spent the rest of the project hiding the hole in the middle under a button. Now the adjustable loop is the default opening in most published flower and amigurumi patterns, and it is worth learning first. What has not changed is everything downstream of that ring: the stitches, the hook, and the fact that a flower motif is still the fastest honest way to find out whether you actually enjoy crochet.
Learn to crochet on a flower instead of a scarf
A flower motif teaches you the whole vocabulary in one sitting. You get a foundation chain, a joining slip stitch, doubles, trebles, and a colour change, and you finish in under an hour. A scarf teaches you one stitch repeated for a fortnight.
Start with a slip knot on the hook, then work chain stitches to build a foundation. To make a flat circle rather than a tube, you join the last chain to the first with a slip stitch and then work your stitches into the centre of that ring, not into the individual chains. Every round after tha