patricia zaballos

Hello! I’m Patricia, a writer and former elementary school teacher who, back in 1996, made the somewhat radical decision to homeschool with my three now-grown kids. Forever obsessed with how people learn, my essays on the subject have appeared in Salon, Literary Mama, Life Learning Magazine, Mothering Magazine and elsewhere. For a few fun years I wrote a column for home/school/life magazine. Also, a guide for parents, Workshops Work! A Parent’s Guide to Facilitating Writer’s Workshops for Kids, because I’m the world’s most ridiculous cheerleader for workshops as an engine to make kids want to write.

I may have once been a teacher, but my kids quickly upended everything I thought I knew about learning, teaching me to trust them and to follow their leads. Since 2008 I’ve written many posts on child-led learning and helping kids retain their creativity on my blog, Wonder Farm, with a particular focus on helping kids love writing, including the still viral-ish How Do Kids REALLY Learn to Write? On the child-led learning page I share my family’s story and have organized some highlights. Maybe you’d like to get lost in the archives.

These days I write a free newsletter with a focus on changes in childhood and how to maintain independence and creativity for kids. Please subscribe!

I’m currently at work on a manuscript called PLAY STRUCTURE: NOTES ON CHANGES IN CHILDHOOD AND THE CHOICES I MADE AS A MOTHER. The book is a mashup of memoir and cultural history exploring how much independence and creativity kids have lost in the past three decades–and how as a mother I pushed back against that culture while also, unwittingly, letting it shape me.

My husband and I are now empty-nesting in this house with the long kitchen table that we built 27 years ago, here among the redwoods in Oakland.

Come find me on TikTok and Instagram where I do tend to yammer.