What Was He Thinking!

With a New Year just beginning, it is a good time to think about resolutions to improve yourself--the typical vow to lose weight, clean out the cupboards, or some other sincere commitments that too often are short lived.  Instead of worrying about resolution for ourselves, this is a suggestion for young people.

How many times have you seen something in the news, or maybe some foolishness in your own community, that made you think to yourself, 'What was he or she thinking?'

Today, logic is not taught as a separate study in most schools.  Should it be?  In our increasingly complex world, perhaps teaching critical thinking is more important than ever.  Protecting children from access to inappropriate information is challenging.  Perhaps the better solution is teaching them Logic and Critical thinking to enable them to distinguish between fact and opinion, to recognize and evaluate the credibility of information.

Whether it is something they see online or television, or it is something they hear from friends, kids are bound to encounter misinformation.  By teaching them logical thinking skills, they can learn to evaluate and assess the validity of information and arguments.  They can learn to identify biases and distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources.  

When are children old enough to be exposed to Logic?  There are differences of opinion, some believing it is best to wait until middle school, but others believe younger kids can benefit earlier, although care must be taken to avoid-- as they would have said back in my childhood-- 'avoiding letting younger kids get too big for their britches.'

With younger kids, training should be done with brain teasers, puzzles, experiments, and other problem-solving activities to activate their thinking, without directly relating it to activities that would make them disobedient.

For older students, the need for teaching logic is growingly important.  Today's students need to be able more than ever to evaluate the validity and reliability of sources of information.  Logic and critical thinking can enable them to distinguish between fact and opinion, to recognize illogical fallacies, and make informed judgments.

Whether young people are exposed to things on the internet or are influenced by other kids, it is important that they have the skills to evaluate the reliability and credibility of information, to identify flawed arguments and misleading claims, and to analyze arguments and assess their validity. 

Whether schools teach students how to think or not, they will learn--for good or for bad.  If your child's school does not have a qualified instructor for teaching Logic, it might be worth inquiring whether such instruction could be added to the curriculum.  

If that is not possible, there are ways you can encourage your children and upper grade students how to think Logically. 

 1.  Ask your children "why" frequently.  The importance in doing this is not to make them feel criticized but rather to encourage them to think things through.  I don't have children, but I suspect that asking them "why" regularly is going to result in your being asked "why" often too, but your willingness to respond with a reasonable reply will show them that having reasons for what you do is important. both for children and parents.

2.  Playing board games with your children can encourage strategy and logical thinking.  I recall a youngster visiting us who had a way of opening his first move in the game in the very same way every time.  The result was that he always lost, but when asked whether he might consider a different approach, he refused.  He was our guest, so we did not push him, but perhaps we could have helped him is some way.  Family board games may not be as popular as they once were, but it does seem like a great way to teach logic, and a nice way to bring the family together.  Try Chess and get out some of your favorite board games from childhood--Monopoly, Scrabble, or others

3.  Check online or in bookstores to see if there might be a method for teaching kids logical reasoning.

4.  Provide your kids with puzzles and brain teasers that they can enjoy on their own. 

Perhaps there are some good suggestions in this blog to consider as your family's New Year's resolution.  If you haven't played board games with your kids lately, maybe encouraging playing board games together isn't a bad New Year's resolution to make!  I know that kids today are busily scheduled with school activities and various other commitments, but I remember many different board games our family played, including playing with aunts and uncles when they visited.  As I researched this post, I realized that although I do not recall taking a class in Logic, I did play all kinds of board games with family and friends.  I remembered the fun, but looking back, maybe I learned more Logic than I knew from those board games!

Remember Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogues?

Thinking about the Sears & Roebuck catalogue seems especially relevant during the holiday season.  We did not have Black Friday sales to fuel our shopping fever, but we had the mail-order catalogue to help us decide what to ask Santa to bring.  However, this blog is not just about Christmas Shopping.

 Do you remember the old Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogues?  We must have ordered something from those catalogues, or surely, they would have stopped sending them to us, but I cannot remember buying anything.  I do remember looking through the new catalogues when they arrived, however.  This blog is about something they sold long before I would have been flipping the pages, however.

Mail Order Houses

In the early part of the 20th Century, you could buy a Sears Modern Home through the catalogue.  The kit came with blueprints, and if you could not afford the price all at once, they provided monthly payments.  All of the pieces were precut, numbered, and ready to fit together.  Nails and paint were included, but you would need to find someone to assemble the pieces, unless you were handy enough to tackle such a job. 

Sales went well until the Great Depression, their best year being 1929.  Sears had a loan program that required a small down payment, and once that was paid, they would lend $3 for every $1 the customer had invested in the house.  As you can imagine, many purchasers were still making payments when the depression hit, and although sales rebounded from 1936 to 1938, the Sears Modern Home department never fully recovered, and in 1940 they were out of the Sears Kit Business.

I have been told that several homes were built in central Kansas in the community where we now live, but I have not been able to verify that they were Sears Modern Homes.  They sold somewhere around 75,000 homes between 1908 and 1940.  There were hundreds of styles, from small bungalows to larger homes.  Thanks to Jenny Ashcraft for posting online and sending me on the search for more information.  

However, what also interested me were the modern homes I discovered online.  There are many examples of such homes available today, from lovely 2-story traditional homes to single story homes that can be built on a foundation or a basement, to custom homes built on your land to tiny modern Prefab homes or log cabins, tiny or majestic.  There are even houses built on wheels so you can move your residence as you choose.  Sears, Roebuck & Company was just ahead of their time!  

    

 

Our Christmas Adventure!

William Allen White's Typewriter

     

For many years, my husband and I have wanted to tour the William Allen White home, and when we were near Emporia, Kansas we would stop by to see if their home was open for tours.  We were never lucky enough to find Red Rocks, the name they gave their home, open for tours.

    So, when we learned that they were having a special Holiday celebration at the house on December 9, 2024, we set the alarm clock to get up in time to drive to Emporia. What a wonderful tour we had!  

    I think the first time I was aware of White was in high school, when we read the Editorial/obituary he and his wife wrote for their daughter.  It is such a lovely tribute to her, and although she died in 1921, over the years it has been read by countless numbers of people.

    He is also famous for his editorial titled "What's the Matter with Kansas?" in which he criticized Populist leaders for failing to keep up with the economy of surrounding neighboring states.

    As a newspaper man, the respect he earned was not limited to Kansas.  Not only did his writing appear in his Emporia Gazette, but his editorials were widely reprinted. His reputation brought him many friends, and among those friends who came to stay in his home were Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas Fairbanks, Edna Ferber, Dorothy Canfield, and Herbert Hoover.

    Among his many achievements, perhaps the most notable was his decision to run for governor of Kansas.  He took the decision seriously, and he campaigned across the state; however, his motive had a bigger purpose than simply running for the office of governor.  The Ku Klux Klan had begun to expand into Kansas, and White used his campaigning to warn Kansans about the danger of the Klan.  He did not win the office of Governor, but his speeches were credited with helping to block the spread of the Klan.

    If you are not familiar with William Allen White, it is worth your time to do some research about this well-known and highly respected Kansan.  He should not be forgotten.  

    A wonderful crowd attended the open house, and a professor from the college entertained us with her harp, playing Christmas music.  The volunteer hostesses were well informed and graciously shared information about each room. It was exciting to me to see the small typewriter that he used to write the newspaper articles and books that brought him fame.

    The house is lovely, and I could not help but look around the room as I enjoyed the music, imagining the famous men and women who had shared the hospitality of the house before me.

    During World War II, the City of Emporia raised $25,000 in war bonds and they were given naming rights for a B-29 bomber.  They chose to name it the William Allen White.  It was part of the same bomber squadron that the Enola Gay was in.

    William Allen White's autobiography was published posthumously in 1946, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for Biograph/Autobiography.  We came home with our own copy of his book, as well as another book and wonderful memories of the day.

Decorating for Christmas

When I was a child, we always had a freshly cut tree, usually bought at the grocery store.  I still cherish memories of decorating the family tree together, and I miss the fresh cut smell that filled the house.  

When my husband and I married, we lived in a trailer house, and there was no room for a tree.  The first real Christmas tree, with ornaments of our own, was in our apartment near the military base, where my husband served in the Air Force.  Year by year, our collection of ornaments grew, and we added many on trips, bringing home ornaments as souvenirs.  As our holiday collection increased, we got bigger trees, and eventually we decorated more than one tree.  When we lived in large cities, I loved shopping in stores the day after Christmas, when decorations were marked down in price.  Gradually our holiday collections expanded.

I love decorating for holidays--Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter--but Christmas is the best.  This year we have three full-size trees and one rather large tabletop tree, as well as decorations on every surface I can find!  My husband suggested that I be satisfied with two trees this year, but I insisted on a third tree, and this year, it is the Oz tree.  When we lived in other states, we were often asked jokingly if we knew Dorothy, or if we had been in a tornado.  Most people did not know much about Kansas, but they knew about the Wizard of Oz.  

Just for fun, I set Scare Crow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy near the tree to share the holiday with us. 

For a few days we will be sharing our home with not only the Oz characters but also angels and snowmen and Santa Clauses and characters from the Nutcracker, and best of all, with friends and family.  

Best wishes and happy holidays!