Home But Not Alone

Today on Home But Not Alone we’re going around the world for Easter. We're currently in the Holiest week of the Year and the Church celebrating the resurrection truly is a global Church. And how people celebrate can vary based on geographic region, religious practices, and even family habits. We don’t always know where these traditions come from, but we know that they are meant to help us celebrate the glory of Christ’s resurrection. So today we’re traveling to different countries to find out how they celebrate Easter.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re traveling back to the 90s to get advice from the greatest teacher of all time, Mr. George Feeny. On the classic sitcom Boy Meets World, Mr. Feeny served as the educator, mentor, and surrogate father to the main characters. But his classroom lessons paled in comparison to his wisdom and life-lessons. So today we’re looking at some of the life-lessons from Mr. Feeny that we want our kids to hear.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re talking about the movies we miss. Movies are great! Carrying on the centuries-old tradition of storytelling, movies can entertain us, allow us a brief escape to feel refreshed, and even inspire us. But as parents we rarely get to PICK the movies WE want. So today we’re logging out of Disney plus, turning off Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and saving the veggies in VeggieTales for dinner. Because today, we’re talking about grown up movies.

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Have you ever told your kids to take a break and “Think About the choices they made”? This is a practice that not only toddlers need, but parents, too! Our lives are filled with choices to make. Today we’re going to talk about discernment and prudence - two things needed to make good and holy choices. And we’re going to play a game of Would You Rather to put our decision making skills to use!

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re learning new languages, love languages! Love languages are just methods of giving and receiving love. Just like how we most often speak the language we best understand, we tend to love in the way we want to be loved. Which is why we need to recognize our love language and the love language of those whom we love.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re talking about things your grandma lied to you about. Old wives tales: we’ve all heard them before; and they’re easy to believe. Whether they were passed down by grandma (who I’m sure WASN’T lying to you intentionally), based on bad science, or even spread as a rumor by British military intelligence, these fictional tales have been adopted as facts. And today, we’re gonna fact-check them!

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re finding inspiration from the lives of some pretty holy people. We’re talking about Saints, Blesseds, and other Holy people. Too often we think of Saints as people from hundreds or thousands of years ago. But even when people overcome that temptation, many of us still think of Saints as people from the other side of the globe (such as. Mother Teresa, John Paul II, or Blessed Carlo Acutis). So today we’re chatting about American Saints, Blesseds, and other Holy people.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re talking about things we’re bad at. Have you ever compared yourself unfairly to other parents? We have! But living humbly requires us to embrace our success and our failures, our strengths and our weaknesses. So we’re going to fight the temptation to be pinterest perfect parent by sharing just some of the things we aren’t good at.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re working on our communication skills. As parents, we spend a lot of time with our kids. And when we do get the opportunity to chat with other adults, we quickly realize that we’ve forgotten how to have adult conversations.

So let’s practice breaking the ice with some fun and unconventional icebreaker questions.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re wrapping up 2020.

This year has been a whirlwind. Things have been different from what we’re used to, different from what we expected. It has been a real challenge.

But we have learned a lot of lessons from dealing with the craziness of this year, and we want to share those with you today!

This is episode number 50!!

This show closes out season two of HBNA, and our first year of this podcast. We love that you all have been with us for this crazy ride of parenting. We’re going to take a few weeks winter break, and we’ll be back in 2021 with more encouragement and real life conversations!

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re talking TODDLERS!!!

Sara recently challenged herself to “A Day in the Life of a Toddler” - in which she spent her entire day doing everythinggg her kiddos did (and especially focusing on her toddler!)

Today, she's going to share with you what the day was like and what she learned.

We want to encourage you to try this challenge as a practice in empathy and charity for your kiddos, whether you have toddlers, elementary kids, teens, or any age!

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re going to learn about another virtue (you know this is one of Sara's fave topics!) 

This time we’re talking about Fortitude! 

Sara is really excited about this episode, because when Tim asked her what virtue she wanted to talk about, and she suggested Fortitude, he wasn’t quite sure he knew exactly what that meant… 

And a lot of us have been there - unaware of what these virtues mean, exactly, and how to practice them. Which is why studying and practicing the virtues is so important!

So let’s dive into Fortitude today!

Book on Virtues:

Happy Liturgical New Year! Today on Home But Not Alone we’re talking all about the season of Advent.

Tim has 10 Advent quiz questions - play along to see if you can beat Sara's score!

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re going to give you some unsolicited parenting advice.

In fact, we’re going to give you the WORST unsolicited parenting advice from the last 300 years. So please, don’t follow this advice. If you think the parenting advice you hear at the grocery store is laughable, prepare yourself for some of the absolute funniest, craziest, and sometimes most cringeworthy advice throughout recent history.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re going to continue exploring what the Catechism says about the Family!

Today we’re diving into Scripture!

As Catholics, we really ARE called to live Biblically - and sometimes we joke that Catholics “don’t know our Bibles” (as well as our Protestant brethren) which is all fine in jest - unless it’s true. We HAVE to have a relationship with the living Word of God, along with our love for Tradition and the Magisterium, to live out our lives and vocations as true Catholic Christians.

Today we’re going to focus on Scripture verses that are helpful to us as parents.

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Today on Home But Not Alone we’re going to talk about “The Family in God’s plan!” 

Hope is in high demand right now. 

 Want to grow in your understanding of the virtue of hope? Want to hold on to hope more fully?  

Let's talk about what hope is, what it's not, what are its opposing vices, and how to grow in hope today!  

*One correction: "I believe, Lord help my unbelief" is from the story of the man whose son was freed from an evil spirit, not from the story of doubting Thomas.  

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This is NOT your pinterest-perfect Fall episode.

We need to stop romanticizing seasons. Fall is not what we see in the L.L. Bean catalogue. All too often this season is more about shorter days, kids returning to school, the ground being wetter more often, etc.

But there are some realistic and family friendly activities we CAN do to help us lift our spirits and engage fully in this season.

Let's talk about those real-life fall family activities today!

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We need to tell you about our must-see, favorite Catholic movies of all-time (including plenty of old-school B&W options because that's how we roll). 

It can be tough to find wholesome, faith-filled movies that are actually enjoyable and high quality. 

If you haven't seen these movies, plan a movie night soon!  And leave a comment on social media to give us you favorite Catholic movie suggestions. 

Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to find a bright light in the darkness. 

Sometimes it seems like things are more challenging now than ever, especially when it comes to raising children. The world seems more hostile to our faith and family every day. But we believe that there is a great deal of hope to be found. So today we’re going to put a smile on our faces and find a great deal of hope as we discuss some benefits of raising children in our modern day.  

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Our sponsor today is Sophia Institute Press. 

They sent us these amazing Saint a Day coloring books.  Check it out here!  

Today we're going to play a game!

Tim has 15 quotes that sound inspirational or important. He's going to read the quotes and Sara has to guess: was the quote said by a Saint? or by a Superhero?

Play along with us! Can you beat Sara's score?

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One of the biggest guilt-inducing topics of our time is how much screen time we give our children.

In this episode, Tim and Sara explore the questions of whether our kids are getting too much screen time, and how to prayerfully and prudently discern screen time use in your family.

Today, we have some (more!) reading recommendations for you! Click the affiliate links to buy.

We have some reading recommendations coming your way today! Here are affiliate links if you want to pick up any of our suggestions.

The Catechism:

Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to give you a behind the scenes look at Catholic ministry work.

We want to talk about the Whys and Hows of Catholic ministry, some of the struggles, and why you shouldn’t idolize Catholic celebrities (probably the most important takeaway of this show). We hope this helps give you a little bit of an inside look at the real life stuff that happens behind the public face of ministry work!

We talk about how Home But Not Alone came to be, the dangers of Catholic celebrity culture, and the importance of having a strong spiritual life and putting your vocation before your ministry work.

This episode is just a fun (and funny!) chat about the work we do here on our podcast, and on our personal ministries - as well as an invitation for you to pray for us as we work to bring the truth of the Catholic Faith to the world.

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Tim and Sara both have college degrees. And now that we're both stay-at-home parents, some people may say we "wasted" our degrees, or are throwing away our education.

We disagree. So today, we're going to share with you the reasons (practical, and theoretical) why we aren't wasting our degrees.

We hope this episode is an encouragement to other stay-at-home parents who receive this criticism about their education history, and their choice to pursue stay at home parenting over pursuing a career.

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Today on Home But Not Alone, we’ve got a fun show for you called: Catholic Stuff Around Our House.

Tim and I are going to take you on a little tour of our “Domestic Churches” - the homes that we live in! We’re going to go on a little scavenger hunt to discover what Catholic things are just hanging out around our houses, to give you a little glimpse of how we live out the faith in our family life.

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The Covid-Quarantined life has given us SO MUCH time to sit around and think deep thoughts. And as we have heard the repeated lament of how difficult it is to be “cut off from the Sacraments” - that got us thinking! As married persons, being stuck at home all the time with our spouse and family, we may not have had the Eucharist or Reconciliation, but there was one Sacrament we could receive every day: the Sacrament of marriage.

So today we’re going to dive into what it means to live and receive the Sacrament of marriage daily!

Reflection Questions:

Here are the questions Tim recommends for diving into how the pandemic has presented challenges to marriage, and how you can overcome those challenges.

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Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to chat about the topic of beauty - and specifically, how to discuss it with our daughters.

It can be hard to hit the balance between affirming our daughters in their beauty, and feeding their pride. Today we’re going to talk about that challenge and try to help you find some answers.

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Have you ever genuflected in a movie theater? Dipped your hand in an ash tray to make the Sign of the Cross? Some quirks are rooted in Catholic habits only we can understand. Today we’re going to talk about the best funny, awkward Catholic moments in our lives.

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Today we’re going to chat about NFP from a Man’s Perspective.

Tim's going to share his thoughts on the challenges and responsibilities NFP presents in a man's life. He'll also give us some insight into why men should be involved in charting their wife's fertility, and some of his best tips about getting involved in practical and spiritual ways.

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Today we’re going to chat about the things we want to teach our kids - that we didn’t learn until we were adults!

Today is Part 2 of this conversation. Last week we talked about the “Faith” edition… and Today we’re doing the non-faith edition. Just skills and knowledge we want our kiddos to know before they grow up.

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Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to chat about the things we want to teach our kids - that we didn’t learn until we were adults!

We’re going to double dip this topic. Today we’ve got “Faith edition,” where we explore all the Catholic stuff that’s that you don’t need to wait until you’re an adult to know. And next week we’ll be back with “non-Faith edition,” for some real life skills #adulting that we want our kids to learn.

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Who would win in a fight, a SAHM or a SAHD? Just kiddinggg we’re not fighting. But we ARE going to take a look at our unique experiences, and see just what’s different (and what’s not-so-different) between being a SAHM and a SAHM

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Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to chat about Depression!.

Major disclaimer: We are NOT medical professionals. We are not trained psychiatrists. We’re just a couple of parents who’ve dealt with depression and anxiety, and we want to share our experiences with you, and if you’re struggling too - encourage you to get the help you need and deserve.

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Today on Home But Not Alone, we’re going to chat about how to talk to your kids about sex.

Tim is a total Theology of the Body guru, and together with his wife they run a ministry called “Chaste Love” - all about promoting the virtue of chastity in all stages of life! Tim is going to share his insight with us today, and help us have the tools we need to talk to our kids about sex in healthy, holy, age appropriate ways.

Warning: This is a show that you’ll probably want to listen to without your kids around.

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Today we chat about the theology of our favorite Princess movies! When watching movies with our kids, we tend to look deep sometimes - probably deeper than the movie creators intended.

And of course, we see everything through a Catholic lens.

We know you're going to love this theological spin on some favorite classic princess movies.

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Today we want to help you understand your working spouse a little better, and get an inside view into the "working parent guilt" that they deal with in their daily life.

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Every homeschool family will have a different story. But today, Sara will give you the inside scoop of what her homeschool schedule looks like!

From breakfast, to timers, to our homeschool space, to whether "ain't" is a word, to our curriculum choices, and more! We'll walk you through a "normal" day (as much as we can).

Resources mentioned:

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Tim has questions, and Sara has all the answers.

Kiddddinggggg.

When it comes to homeschooling, nobody has all the answers. But Sara is always happy to share her thoughts and opinions, and what works for her family's homeschool life.

Tim wants to know:

If you homeschool or are thinking about homeschooling, you're going to love this honest conversation!

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Today, we're going to chat about four questions concerning how we're dealing with the coronavirus. 

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Today we chat about how to make it through the Mass with kids.

I know that sounds dire, but as parents we all have those days - especially when our kids are little! - when it seems that all that we can do is make. it. through. the Mass.

We want to share our tips to help you get through Mass, and hopefully to help you find more peace and reverence when attending Mass with your kids.

Tim reminds us that it's more important to make it TO MASS than to make it THROUGH MASS. And he has some great advice for adjusting your attitude to bring you more peace as you manage Mass with kids.

Sara has some practical tips and tricks to have up your sleeve when attending Mass with littles.

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As parents, we spend a lot of time teaching our kids about what the Mass is, how to behave at Mass, and maybe even bribing them with donuts to keep quiet during Mass.

But today we want to take a few minutes to feed the souls of moms and dads, by helping you learn a few things you may not have known about the Mass!

What's the significance of blessing ourselves with holy water upon entering the church? What does the "Lamb of God" really mean? Learn the answer to these questions, plus some interesting facts about the Traditional Latin Mass, and more in today's episode.

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In this special BONUS episode, Tim is going to share all about his trip to the Holy Land! This is the perfect episode to listen to during Lent, to help you enter into Christ's Passion, by a little walk through the Holy Land.

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Today, we'll talk about the dangers of complaining (or "venting") against our spouses. We want to take this opportunity to practice gratitude and appreciation for our spouses, and to encourage you to look for things to say to uplift your spouse - and not to drag them down.

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Today, we chat about some of our ideas and traditions for observing Lent as a family. But we also talk about the importance of parents entering into the spirit of sacrifice and penance as Catholic adults, and with your spouse as a Catholic couple. What do you think of our ideas? And what would you add?

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In this episode, we'll use the Catechism of the Catholic Church to define what virtue is. We'll help you become familiar with the theological and cardinal virtues, and talk about different practical ways to model these virtues for your children, and grow in them as a family.

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We can often get caught off guard when people say rude or unexpected things to us in public, and we can be unsure of how to respond in the moment. Today we will talk about how to have a charitable interpretation of inappropriate comments. And we'll build our arsenal of great (and sometimes funny) responses!

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I think the idea of “vocation” is often misunderstood, or maybe I should say not fully understood. We have “vocations awareness” and “vocation discernment” initiatives for our children, but I think there’s something vital we’re missing in the discussion, and we want to bring that out today, and encourage you in fostering a true sense of vocation in your children.

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Escapism is when we turn to things and behaviors in order to help us get away from the hardships of real life. We want to unpack what this commonly looks like, why it’s a problem, and  what we can do instead of attempting to “escape” from our lives.

Today we're going to play a little game called: Do You Live Under a Rock? We think most parents might!

Tim is going to ask some questions about Pop Culture, and Sara will show off how little she knows about it. Keep count of how many references YOU know, and let us know whether you live under a rock, too!

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Sara wants to introduce you to 5 Saints every mom needs to know.

From Mama Mary, to St. Therese and her mom Zelie, to St. John Bosco and more, these Saints are amazing witnesses and models for every mom!

Resources Mentioned:

Tim wants to introduce you to 5 Saints every dad needs to know.

From St. Joseph, to Thomas More, to JPII and more, these Saints are amazing witnesses and models for every dad!

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Let's chat about the grim but true stories behind Nursery Rhymes.

We might get distracted by Sara's personal vendetta against houselamps, kicking off this otherwise disturbing episode on a lighthearted note.

But then things get a little deep as we explore parents' responsibility to prudently discern what type of content we expose our kids to, and the implications of sanitizing history - including our own Church history.

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We're continuing our conversation on prayer - this time, diving into what contemplative prayer means, and whether it's possible for parents.

As parents, we're not called to live the contemplative life. Our lives are necessarily active lives - filled with many duties and responsibilities. But does that mean we can't pray contemplative prayer?

Sara thinks that just maybe we can. Discover what contemplative prayer is, and how God is waiting to give this gift to you.

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Do you feel like your life is too full of chaos to find time to pray?

Let's take a quick look at the definition of what prayer really is. Then we'd like to share 9 practical pieces of advice that we have found help us to have a better prayer life, and maybe they’ll help you too!

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Do your kids love Daniel Tiger? It's okay to admit that YOU love it too. We want to share 5 of our favorite Daniel Tiger songs (you get to hear Tim sing them!) and the lessons we take away from them as parents.

We also share a few of Sara's favorite parenting books, that seem to line up with the Daniel Tiger world (affiliate links):

Meet Tim and Sara, hosts of "Home But Not Alone." Tim started out in Church ministry, but eventually discerned to become a Stay at Home Dad. Sara's career goal was to have a job she could quit, to become a Stay at Home Mom.

In this episode, you'll hear their stories about their journey to Stay at Home Parenting, and the reasons behind this podcast. If you sometimes feel lonely, even though you're constantly surrounded by tiny people, this podcast will help you realize - you're not so alone!

Learn more and support our work!