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  • Home
    • Disclosure Policy
    • About Me
  • What's New! (Blog)
  • Low-Carb Lifestyle!
    • Trim Healthy Mama-inspired Grocery Lists
    • THM-style Beverages >
      • Mock Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos
    • Family Favorite Recipes (Not Low Carb) >
      • Snacks >
        • Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!
        • Healthy Peanut Buttery Treats
      • Soups and Stews >
        • Jamaican Seafood Chowder
        • Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
      • Salads >
        • Red Cabbage Coleslaw
      • Main Dishes >
        • Beef >
          • Beef Stroganoff
        • Chicken >
          • Chicken Fiesta
          • Chicken Nachos
          • Marinated Zucchini and Chicken Sandwiches
          • Chicken or Turkey Enchiladas
          • Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
          • Green Chili Chicken Lasagna
        • Lamb >
          • Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder
        • Seafood >
          • Chilled Quinoa and Salmon Salad (E)
          • Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas
        • Pasta Recipes >
          • Baked Lemon Pasta
          • Paccheri (Pasta) with Cauliflower and Tomatoes
      • Desserts >
        • Cookies >
          • Free Christmas Cookie cookbook download!
          • Healthier Gingerbread Man Cookies
          • Healthier Holiday Cut-Out Cookes
          • Maple Leaf Cookies - YUMMM!
        • Donuts
        • Frozen Desserts >
          • Lemonade Ice Cream Pie
    • Recommended Ingredients and Foods >
      • Inspiration Mixes - Gluten/Dairy/Caseine/Wheat Free and delicious!
      • Organic Maple Syrup
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Curriculum & Product Reviews >
      • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews >
        • Art >
          • ARTistic Pursuits
          • Simply Draw!
        • Grammar >
          • All About Homophones - (Marie Rippel)
          • Time 4 Learning
          • Daily Grams
        • Handwriting >
          • Cursive Handwriting - New American Cursive
        • History >
          • The Mystery of History >
            • MOH vol. 3 Audio MP3's
          • Tapestry of Grace History
          • U.S. History >
            • America, The Last Best Hope (William Bennett)
          • Winter Promise
        • Latin >
          • Latina Christiana, by Memoria Press
          • Visual Latin
        • Literature-based Unit Studies >
          • Beyond Five in a Row
          • Further Up and Further In by Diane Pendergraft
        • Logic and Reasoning >
          • Building Thinking Skills (Critical Thinking Skills Co.)
        • Math >
          • Math Mammoth
          • Math Tutor DVD.com
          • MathRider: Horselovers' Math Facts Software Game!
        • Music and Composers
        • Online Educational Courses >
          • Aleks Online Courses
        • Science >
          • Apologia Science >
            • Apologia Science's Notebooking Journals
            • Zoology 1 - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
          • Science Weekly newsletters
        • Spelling >
          • Phonetic Zoo (by IEW)
        • Writing >
          • The Write Foundation: Level 2 - Paragraphs
          • WriteShop's StoryBuilders
      • Homeschool Product Reviews >
        • eBooks >
          • College Success Begins at Home (TOS eBook)
          • Dreams and Designs—Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool
          • Help, Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler!
          • The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner
        • Online Educational Website Memberships >
          • KB Teacher
        • Science >
          • Polymer Crystals
    • Driver's Education for Homeschoolers
    • Foreign Language >
      • Latin >
        • Christmas Songs in Latin
        • Latina Christiana (Level 1) >
          • Latina Christiana Level 1 Lesson Links >
            • Charts and Helps
            • Year One Sayings
            • LC1 Intro and Lesson 1
      • Latina Christiana (Level II) >
        • Latina Christiana Level 2
        • LC2 Intro and Lesson 1
    • Forms and Charts >
      • "Week At A Glance" Planner
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
    • Free Audio Books to Download
    • Free Homeschool I.D. Cards!
    • Government and Civics
    • Handwriting
    • History: Classical / Chronological >
      • The Mystery of History, by Linda Lacour Hobar
      • The Middle Ages (MOH vol. 2)
      • Ancient History (MOH vol. 1) >
        • Ancient Rome >
          • Roman Architecture
          • Roman Houses
          • Roman Town (software game by Dig-It)
          • Roman Trade and Commerce
    • Language Arts
    • Science
  • Free Printables
    • Holidays >
      • Christmas
  • Book/DVD/Audio Reviews
    • Children's Movie/DVD Reviews
    • Other Product/Company Reviews
  • Home & Family
    • Frugal Living
    • Gardening and Herbs
    • Marriage - God's Way
    • Life at Home
    • Godly Kids & Teens >
      • Godly Womanhood
      • Sharing God With Your Children
      • Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home >
        • Keepers At Home - "Beginning of Club Year" Helps
        • Keepers At Home - "End of Club Year" Helps
        • KAH Skills >
          • Bible Memory >
            • Memorizing New Testament Books and Their Meanings
            • Proverbs 31:10-31
          • Cake Decorating
          • Card Making >
            • Stitched Cards
          • Computers
          • Character Studies >
            • Contentment and "I'm Bored" phrases
            • Willingness
          • Decoupage
          • Hospitality
          • Library Skills and Literature Pins
          • Sewing >
            • Beauty and the Pig - Goldie Doll
            • Edwardian-Style Aprons
            • Paper Piecing
      • Children >
        • Bible Study Bookmarks
        • The Church History ABCs (for kids!!!)
        • The Lord's Prayer - copywork
        • Some Thoughts...Family Bible Time
        • Running Away...with permission
      • Young Adults (Teens) >
        • Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss
        • Deeper Roots: Discovering Our Amazing God
  • Frugal Family Trips to Washington, D.C.

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Book Review: 
Momology:  A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids
(by Shelly Radic - MOPS)

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     In the past, I've been hesitant to read or recommend "mom" or "motherhood" types of books.  Many books about motherhood follow philosophical reasoning that I don't agree with.  Other parenting and "mom" books go against biblical principles.  Sometimes, I've even decided not to read Christian parenting magazines or books because I realized quickly that their philosophies and methods go against my own.

     Most moms work hard to figure out their basic philosophies of motherhood, discipline, and parenting.  I'm no different.  Sometimes, I find it hard to keep some of my own "rules" for parenting and motherhood to myself.  I'm so far from perfect, and I have to rely on the Lord Jesus to keep me in check and remind me to "hush up for a minute" and be a better and more respectful listener.

     At the same time, I've been a careful observer over the last twenty years to watch other moms and silently learn from them what I call "great practices" that bring about excellent results in their parenting efforts.  There are many choices I've made in my parenting that I could point directly to a verse in Scripture, or to a mom friend of mine, or something my pastor mentioned, etc., that I specifically use in my parenting with my children...and those things are having great results.  On the flip side, there are some techniques and methods I've used over the years that don't produce fruit, so those have been tossed by the wayside, or my view about them has changed.

     Because I've enjoyed learning about motherhood from the Bible and many mom friends, I agreed to read and review
Momology:  A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids by Shelly Radic, published by Revell.   Radic is chief of staff at MOPS International.  I had attended MOPS gatherings (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) for a couple of years starting when my oldest daughter was a few months old.  I met a few women there who were kind and helpful, and I enjoyed attending MOPS. 

     I figured that if one of the MOPS' "main gals" was writing a book about motherhood, I'd be interested in reading it...so here is my review.

     The title of this book, Momology:  A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids isn't as much of a parenting book as I thought it would be.  Mrs. Radic's goal is to show moms directly how their opinions, views, and life practices and habits can shape them as mothers, which in turn will shape their children. 


     Momology is based on research from:

1.  SEARCH Institute
2.  YMCA
3.  Barna Group
4.  Parenting experts
5.  Government agencies and their reports
6.  Major universities
7.  1,800 moms who participated in in-depth surveys



     There are four main areas of motherhood that Mrs. Radic believes contribute to shaping great kids:

1.  Knowing who we are:  building a healthy, resilient mom CORE

2.  Knowing what we're capable of:  developing
FINESSE in the ways we daily interact with our kids

3.  Knowing who we can count on:  interacting within a
CIRCLE of relationships that support us and our kids

4.  Knowing who God is:  Engaging with Him in His
GRANDSCAPE

     Radic provides excellent research, personal surveys and interviews, personal stories, and Scripture verses that explain each of these four main areas of successful motherhood.

     While you won't find tons of specific parenting techniques in this book, you will find clear evidence of what differentiates successful mothering from unsuccessful mothering.  Little snippets of information, ideas, suggestions, and honest confession will all work together to help each reader get started on the pathway to becoming a stronger mother in these four areas:  CORE, FINESSE, CIRCLE, and GRANDSCAPE.

     I found that the chapters in Momology provided a lot of food for thought.  This would be an excellent book to be shared and used as a weekly Bible study with other moms.  I would caution, however, that a leader would want to be selected who would be strong enough in her Christian faith to ultimately bring group discussions back to the Holy Scriptures in a way that would enable other attending moms to feel respected and honored if they were either very young in their Christian faith or weren't yet believers.

     I really liked the long-term view that Mrs. Radic takes in her concepts about parenting.  She frequently suggests that mothers look ahead to the future when making decisions or parenting in a certain style...and ask themselves, "How is this going to affect my child in the future?" 

     I also enjoyed reading this quote about how quickly the childhood years fly by:

     "When an older mom asked [a younger mom] what the family did on weekends, the young mom shared, 'Errands and housework.'  The older mom gently informed her friend that
every childhood holds only 936 weekends, asking her to estimate how many weekends had been spent so far on errands and housework.  Since the little guy was almost four, it turned out to be just over two hundred.  Shocked by how many precious weekends were already gone, the young mom reevaluated, choosing to spend a higher percentage of weekend time on activities that would build the childhood memories she wanted to shape her son's life."  (Momology, pg. 95)

     Isn't that powerful? 

     There were so many things in this book that caused me to ponder.  That is always a good thing! 

     This book is unusual among "mom" books and "women" books, because it doesn't allow the reader to have a pity party for herself, while at the same time it also helps remove some of the false guilt mothers struggle with for this or that. 

     As a BONUS, the new Mom-ology.org website will be opening up on June 15, 2010 to provide fresh insight on motherhood and parenting for you!  They welcome your input, suggestions, reflections, and questions. 

    
  Momology (www.mom-ology.org)

     Reading Momology:  A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids will help mothers feel more confident in what they are doing, give them skills to improve, help them identify their strengths and weaknesses, point them to online tools that will help them understand themselves more completely, and help set goals.  This is an excellently written book, different from most Christian motherhood books on the market today.  I was impressed with it!


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Disclaimer:  A free copy of Momology was provided to me for the purpose of providing my opinion of this book in a written review.  No other compensation was provided.

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