Examples of why I'm a multipotentialite...and look my baby is one!

Actually, my baby has been one for a month now. But I just finally got around to doing her first birthday pictures. After making all the items for the shoot, taking the photos, editing the photos, and including my children in all aspects of the process, I really see my multipotentialite traits in action. I am kind of on hiatus at the moment, but most of the items in these photos were made by me. The tutu, tutu dress, all headpieces (fox ears, headbands, flower crown), and banners. I'm sure a professional photographer could have certainly done better. However, it's a hobby I enjoy tinkering with and so I do. We couldn't decide on a favorite so we decided to put them in a collage for now and decide later.

 

So why is this important? What does it mean for the kids, for our homeschool, for me as a teacher? It means that I can see these traits in my children. These traits might be seen in other venues as undedicated, flaky, hopping from one hobby to another. However, after all this time I don't see it that way. What I see, is potential. The term encompasses it all. These days, when my son wants to spend all day researching superheroes and writing a book on it, I can see what he is doing, and how absorbed he is in the process, and how he wants to learn every aspect of that topic that he can. Then the next week it's dinosaurs or cars. Really, aren't most children just like this? 

What can we do to help children like this? We can show them that having multiple interests is OK. We can also help them manage how they feel once they have "mastered" a concept and would like to move on to the next. How can past learnings help in their new endeavors? How can they make sure to finish one thing before the next catches their eye? How do they make sure they don't stretch themselves too thin? 

For me as a home educator I also need to keep my interests in check a bit. I tend to take on too much, and when it's all overwhelming me I take a step back and reassess how important all these interests are.

How about you? Have you ever heard the term Multipotentialite?  It has recently given me comfort to know that I don't just devour and hop from one thing to another because I'm a lazy, unmotivated person but rather my interest pool is large, and I prefer it that way. I used to say that I wanted to be a professional student. To devour subjects one by one, wholly and completely. When I grow up I want to teach, write books, take photos, sew dresses, own a store where I make and sell all sorts of pretties for little girls, teach yoga, be a philosopher, be a midwife, teach English at a university, plan weddings, decorate houses, own a restaurant, be a graphic designer...the list goes on and on. And oddly enough, Homeschool encompasses so many of those interests!

For more info on being a multipotentialite look here.