Welcome to AF, bilbofroddo.
I didn't catch the brand of tablet you have. We might have a forum here just for it.
In the mean time though, maybe it will help if we stop and clear the launcher's caches.
If you can get to settings, then Apps, then all, then find your launcher's name in the list and click on it. Then find and click on Force stop and clear cache. Might have to clear data as well. You will probably lose some of your setup.
Let us know which tablet you have, please.
Hope that helps. Let us know. Thanks for joining!