Weekly Wrap Up: Computer Problems, Math Problems, and Hay Rides

Don’t forget — Next week, I’ll be having giveaways all weekend long on my blog for my Firesale. I’m really excited to have more than $140 worth of digital products by leading Homeschooling publishers for just $19.95 — plus the chance to win an Amazon.com gift card, and some other goodies. We’re hoping to raise money towards affordable housing for our family, after 11 years of pay cuts and rising expenses have left us in foreclosure.

That’s probably why I blog so much about saving money and being frugal — it’s a lesson I’ve learned quite a bit about over the last 11 years. It’s also why contentment and trusting God are also major themes in my life.

I’ve told God a few times, “Okay, great, I think I’m done with this chapter of my life. Can I move on now?” But apparently, there’s more to learn. I suppose there is always more to learn, right?

This week, I was panicking big time, and had to learn to trust all over again, as my computer started to act weird, slow down, and rebel against me. With the upcoming fire sale, this had me very concerned, since next week will be a busy one for me.

As I blogged yesterday, my son showed me how to run a disk defrag and a disk clean up on my system. I also uninstalled a few programs I don’t use, and I tried to do as much housekeeping on my computer as possible. A reader later told me about something called Registry Mechanic by PC Tools, which is also very helpful. When I started up Registry Mechanic, they said my system performance was low (and that was after I fixed a lot of things with the defrag!)…by the RM was done running repairs on my system, I was up to “high performance”. Yippee. My laptop may be “old” at 3 years old now, but I need my laptop to last as long as possible…several more years at least…so I do whatever I can to get it in good health. I know this is a little off topic, but if you’re computer is running badly lately, give ‘er a go.  You may improve your system too!

These kinds of computer problems, while the world mourns Steve Jobs, seemed kind of ironic. I miss my Mac (it passed away 19 years ago), especially given that my computer problems all started with a “vital windows update”.

A healthy computer is a happy computer!

This also goes to show you that eventually homeschooled kids bypass mom and dad in knowledge. I’m not even sure how my son knows that stuff LOL.

He’s currently curled up on the couch, reading the tech manual for the church’s sound board to try to figure out the problems we’re having with the sound system. I tried to take a photo of him (coffee in hand, tech manual before him, headphones in, taking notes…) but he wouldn’t let me. He looked so serious though — grown up.

As I’ve said before, the key to getting one of those slow, reluctant readers to start reading more is to give them something to read that appeals to them.  You know, like sound system tech manuals that might as well be written in Greek for the rest of us.

This week, we again did quite a bit with math.  It became apparent that my 7th grader, Bel, doesn’t quite have her division facts memorized (though she knows her multiplication tables), so we spent some time drilling her. I noticed her old er siblings drilling her while washing dishes and sorting socks. Apparently life isn’t always sunshine and roses for the baby of the family.

We’ve found that doing drills like that throughout the day helps to really nail those facts that one needs to memorize for faster recall. Drills while doing dishes or other activities (even playing outside) are great ways to learn.

The view from the hay wagon.

On Thursday, we had a family hay ride for our church. It’s hosted each year at a farm belonging to a family in our church. We had over 100 people, with two tractors pulling two hay wagons each. For the first time in as long as I can remember, we had great weather for this event (usually you can guarantee that whenever the family hay ride is scheduled, you’ll also have the first snow of the year — this year it was in the 70′s). There’s something about Michigan in the fall! It’s beautiful here.

The two big kids are doing great with driving practice, but me, not so much. This past week, I backed into my dh’s car in our own driveway. Thankfully, we were able to pull out some pliers and unbend the fender. Our cars have both hit more deer than my dad has ever successfully shot during hunting season, so dents are not so unusual for us. Thankfully it was a tap and nothing serious! Whew!

Please do check back next Monday as the Big Blessing Sale starts up with digital products from Knowledge Quest Maps, Write Shop Workshop, Mystery of History, and more! You may even win one of two Amazon.com gift cards

Admit it: You want one! All next week, you'll have a chance to win.

Join other homeschool bloggers at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for a Weekly Wrap Up!