U is for USB Flash Drives

I'm currently participating in 

an ABC's for homeschooling challenge.  

Since it falls on Tuesdays, 

I am adding a technological slant to the challenge.  

I hope you stay tuned and enjoy my entries.

Our USB flash drives closed

Over the years of my home schooling adventures, I have accumulated a lot of computer files.  There have been different ways to save them.  I still remember the square floppy disks.  Do you, my readers?  We've come a long way.

My teenage son is the who taught me how to use a USB flash drive.

I've used CDs to save worksheets and pdfs but have gravitated towards USB flash drives.  I wondered what that acronym, USB, means so I looked it up.  According to Wikipedia, USB means Universal Serial Bus.  Basically, the ability to connect things to the computer was streamlined.  The sticks, as I like to call them, are now able to be plugged into a computer, laptop, printer, and even the Wii game system.

I think of the USB stick busing in the information to and from a computer.

Currently, we own various type of flash drives, which hold either 4 or 8 gigabytes of memory.  There are higher capacity ones up to about 128 gigabytes at Amazon.  Can you imagine carrying a bunch of physical binders of teaching material?  It's so much easier now to carry a plastic stick that weighs less than an ounce.

By the time we know it, I believe we'll see a terabyte in a small stick.

Of course, I should mention that if your computer or laptop is running low in memory space, there is a solution.  A flash drive can soup it up.  I haven't used any sticks for that purpose, though.  You can also use the sticks to backup your data, in case your computer or laptop breaks or crashes.  If you want to learn more about USB flash drives, you can visit Wikipedia.

I used a flash drive to move my files from my last desktop computer to my laptop.

Our USB flash drives opened

Here are some novelty flash drives.  Emtec has some funky ones like the Teddy bear above.  Geeks.com has some of different capacities.  I haven't bought directly from any of these companies.  I'm just wanting to show the different types of flash drives that are available through online companies.  We've bought our flash drives at stores like Walmart and Office Depot.

Well, thanks for reading this entry about how we've used USB flash drives in our home.  

Next week, I will be covering the letter V.  

Please stay tuned!

How about you, my readers?  Do your use technology in your home schools?  Have you considered using technology to hold any of your homeschooling material?  If so, which technological tools do you use?  I believe in finding technological tools to help in the home school.  I encourage you to consider using USB drives to save your electronic information.

I pray that God gives you all, my beloveds, His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for the Technology Tuesdays series.