Are You an Unschooling Multipotentialite?
Are you an unschooling multipotentialite? If someone had asked me that question a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have had an answer. I’d never heard of that word before. Yes, multipotentialite is a new word in my vocabulary.
My friend Lucinda introduced me to the concept of multipotentiality. She sent me over to the blog Puttylike. I started reading and soon I was thinking, “Oh my, this describes my family perfectly!”
Puttylike is written by Emilie Wapnick. This is how she describes a multipotentialite:
A multipotentialite is a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life.
Multipotentialites have no “one true calling” the way specialists do. Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have many paths and we pursue all of them, either sequentially or simultaneously (or both).
Multipotentialites thrive on learning, exploring, and mastering new skills. We are excellent at bringing disparate ideas together in creative ways. This makes us incredible innovators and problem solvers.
When it comes to new interests that emerge, our insatiable curiosity leads us to absorb everything we can get our hands on. As a result, we pick up new skills fast and tend to be a wealth of information.
That might all sound wonderful but there is a downside. Multipotentialites often reach a bored stage when they’re exploring a subject. They then look around for something new to tackle. It may seem to others that they jump from one thing to other without ever finishing anything.
Unfortunately, mainstream society tends not to value or recognize multipotentiality and labels this sort of “jumping between interests” flaky, immature behaviour.
Perhaps we worry if we see this kind of behaviour in our kids. But when we understand how they’re wired, maybe we can accept how they learn.
Multipotentialites think outside the box.
So do unschoolers! Perhaps you’re an unschooling multipotentialite. Or could your kids fit this description?
In this week’s podcast, I talk about multipotentiality. I’m still at the exploring stage. I have a lot to ponder. So I hope, if you listen to episode 86, you will also hop over to Puttylike to fill in the gaps. I’m sure I didn’t say all I could!
In episode 86, I ask the following questions:
Is it okay to have multiple interests, to pursue one thing, get bored and then move onto something else?
When are we finished with a topic? When people move quickly between interests do they lack perseverance and commitment?
Should we encourage kids to focus on only one interest? Is this best for a future career? Or is okay to have multiple interests?
Are we a family of multipotentialites?
Are people who move continuously from one interest to another frustrating?
How does the way I’m wired affect my online life?
Show Notes
Multipotentiality
Puttylike blog
Terminology: What is Multipotentiality and other associated definitions
My Podcast
Podcast Player with all episodes on my blog
on iTunes
on Podbean
How to Write a Review of Leave a Rating in the iTunes Store or App Store
Podcast music
Images
My daughter Sophie has many interests: photography, videography, hair braiding, cooking, music, exercise… Will she have to choose only one of these as her future career? Or will she be able to have it all?
This is my last podcast of the year. I’d like to thank you for supporting my podcast during 2016. I hope you’ll listen again after Christmas!
So I’m wondering…
Are you a specialist or a multipotentialite? How about your children? And what do you think about finding a way to incorporate multiple interests into a career?