patricia zaballos

writer

My essays have appeared in Salon, Literary Mama, Life Learning Magazine, Mothering Magazine and elsewhere, and for a few years I wrote a column for home/school/life magazine. I’ve written a guide for parents: Workshops Work! A Parent’s Guide to Facilitating Writer’s Workshops for Kids and am currently at work on a memoir of my years as a homeschooling mother.

homeschooling veteran

A former third-grade teacher, I went on to homeschool alongside my three kids for twenty years. The kids gradually knocked schoolteacher from mother, teaching me to value child-led, passion-driven learning. I’ve written many, many posts on homeschooling and helping kids hold on to their creativity, with a particular focus on helping kids love writing, including the viral-ish How Do Kids REALLY Learn to Write? On the homeschooling tab, I share my family’s homeschooling story and have organized some highlights.

blogger

A believer in the notion that blogs are not dead, that they are, in fact, the last patch of internet not overrun by algorithms, I’ve kept Wonder Farm chugging along since 2008 (before Instagram even existed.) After years of writing about homeschooling and parenting, my posts have drifted toward musings on writing, creativity, and life in the house among the redwoods with the long kitchen table, which my husband and I built 23 years ago in Oakland, CA. Most months I write a newsletter-style post; subscribe for email updates! If you wonder why the heck I call the place a Wonder Farm, here’s the story.