School on a Bus (a.k.a. Radical Sabbatical)

Although laptops and PCs have dropped significantly in price, my current income is such that I cannot treat it as a disposable item. Yet, that is what it is. If it doesn’t become antiquated by newer software, then it will eventually break down. Once that happens it’s not worth fixing.

This doesn’t just apply to laptops but also TVs, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, and other tech gadgets. Eventually they’re all going to be outdated or break down and you have to buy a new one. These devices are not as affordable as it seems at first glance.

Within the last 1-2 years I’ve had to replace a TV, an MP3 player, a digital camera, a printer, and now a laptop. We have two laptops, one for me and one for the family. My ‘work’ laptop started flickering. It seems to be heat related because the flickering doesn’t start until it’s been running for a while. This is really annoying. In fact it makes it unusable for my purposes. So I had to buy a new one. Don’t get me wrong, I like new laptops. They’re faster and have more capacity. But, they also cost money. I’m either going to have to give up my reliance on gadgets or get a real job. Neither option appeals to me.

In the meantime we’ve come to realize that we need three laptops anyway. The kids immediately absconded with my ‘broken’ laptop to alleviate the load on the family laptop. It is used extensively for school, typing, journaling, emails, and research. And it’s used periodically for games once school is complete. The kids seem more tolerant of a broken laptop that flickers.

I installed a shelf for the new printer. The new printer is an inkjet – something I had sworn off once the laser jets became affordable. I brought the laser printer from home. The problem I found is that it sucks a lot of power that rivals a microwave or toaster for consumption. That’s a problem when we’re on battery power. Plus, our laser printer just broke one of the feed gears. It’s also a lot heavier.

The inkjet needs very little power and was pretty cheap – $69.99 (with zero sales tax in Montana). The thing is a lot slower and now I’m back to buying ink cartridges every month. The kids like it because it prints color which adds a lot of flare to their school notebooks. For me it has become a necessary evil.

Today I have finally completed my tasks at Family Academy offices. Once we leave the area, I will be able to connect to the office over the internet. In order to stay connected on our trip, I have multiple access methods including a Verizon data card (called EV-DO), a two-way satellite dish, or a regular 802.11 wireless connection via a local hotspot (e.g. Starbucks). If one doesn’t work I can usually use the other. Most of these technologies have only become prevalent within the last 3 years. They are what enable me to work while we travel around the country.

Within the bus I have set up a wireless router along with a networked printer and disk drive. In order to preserve the use of my laptop for my business, we acquired a second laptop for general use by the family. This allows us to keep all our music on the laptop since we copied all our CDs and LPs to MP3 files. We are also able to research the areas where we travel, look for parks and campgrounds, as well as use the computer as a school aid. Due to space constraints, we rely on the laptop in place of a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, etc. We also use the laptop to manage all our pictures – over one hundred on some days.