Why we choose Rays Arithmetic

I love my Ray's Arithmetic. Clearly you can tell its been through many hands. There are many reasons to choose Rays but one reason I admire the most is how naturally it teaches a child to reason. Knowing how to reason is crucial in the upbringing of a child. Being able to reason clearly enhances a child's ability to make well thought out decisions and to work through situations and problems. In short, when's person can reason then that equals to thinking outside the box and helps one find solutions to a myriad of situations that come in life. That's why we choose Rays for the first 6 to 8 years for their math. I know it might seem an odd thing to think of an arithmetic curriculum that actually teaches you how to reason but this one does. Obviously, most anything that was written in the 1800's you will pretty much be guaranteed to find reason written within the pages. Here are a few problems one of my little daughters were working on today.

A farmer sold 1 cow, at $18, and 5 pigs, at $3 each, receiving in payment 3 sheep, at $3 each, and the rest in money: how much money did he receive?

Charles can earn $9 while Mary earns $4: how many dollars will Charles earn while Mary earns $28?

If 6 apples are worth 18 cents, how many apples must be given for 5 oranges, worth 6 cents each?

You can see by the above examples that their numbers for computation their problem are not handed to them on a silver platter. The student is taught to find the formula on his own before a solution can be realized thereby bringing forth the reasoning of which I spoke of earlier. The preface to the book has this to say:
"When properly taught, it is one of the most useful and interesting studies in which pupils can engage. By its study, the pupil is taught to reason, to analyze, to think for himself; while it imparts confidence in his reasoning powers, and strengthens the mental faculties."
For these reasons and more is why I choose Rays! I just hope I can keep this copy of the New Intellectual Arithmetic in good enough shape to last through the rest of my kiddos!