Seek Your Own Lollapalooza Effects!
Reading time: 8 minutes
At the Center for Homeschooling we like to encourage parents and students to think differently and creatively. Let’s talk about an interesting idea — how you can create your own “lollapalooza effects.”
The term “lollapalooza effect” refers to events, actions, tendencies, and mental models all acting at the same time, and in the same direction. With lollapalooza effects the result is often dramatic, due to the confluence of these things. This is a goal for your home classroom.
Lollapalooza effects can create large-scale drivers of positive behaviors in your children. And they can last a lifetime. They begin with your children embracing great learning practices and, over time, becoming Lifelong Learners.
We think there is a great opportunity for this when homeschool teaching is combined with great parent coaching. You generate your own Lollapalooza effects within your children. Share this word with your children.
First, the textbook definition of lollapalooza is:
“A person or thing that is particularly impressive or attractive.”
Its origin is said to be in the late 19th Century.
Of course, lollapalooza is also an annual music festival — but we’re not referring to that one.
When Charlie Munger, partner of the legendary Warren Buffett, coined the word “lollapalooza” he attached the word “effects” (as in “lollapalooza effects”) which means that multiple factors are acting together in ways that are feeding back on each other. He was talking about great events where the sum becomes greater than the parts.
Note that originally Munger meant something powerful happening in economics or social events that could be either very positive or very negative. Here, we think this exists in the possibilities of the positive effect on an individual adult.
Really big effects, lollapalooza effects, will often come only from combinations of multiple factors.
Tips for homeschooling parents
To get this effect, Munger says that multiple psychological and skill factors must combine together. As a parent, you will want to focus on at least these six factors:
- The Right Mental Aptitude – This begins with reframing the purpose of learning to the bigger picture of growing the brain and your capabilities. It starts with the vision of what’s possible knowing you are capable of out-achieving mental aptitude.
- Growth Mindset – There’s the good effect caused by cultivating a growth mindset. The ability to turn life’s setbacks into future successes. There’s no substitute for having a strong interest in improving. Check out our Mindsets course from more information.
- Best Strategies and Habits – This is vital: The effect that comes from knowing how to use “best practices” in terms of learning strategies, supported by good habits to use them. But this benefits by having a coach, the parent who provides the foundation accompanied by constant encouragement and help.
- Structure and Discipline – Learning benefits by the structure to support it. Find a structure that forces you to plan and think about what you are doing, a structure that encourages conversations. A weekly study planning and review meeting is a great start.
- Confidence from Success – The effect that come from self-confidence and a track record of learning success. It’s a virtuous cycle — success reinforces success in this case.
- Foster “Lifelong Learning” Thinking – This becomes the payoff: Coach your child to have deeply ingrained commitment to learning-how-to-learn as part of who you are and will be. “The turtles who outrun the hares are learning machines.” When you stop learning in this world, the world will rush right by you.
You can plan for your own Lollapalooza effects at home! Start today to think about how.
