Apparently, this was a wise purchase

Last night, we hung a world map in our boys' room. We had it up in a common area in the old house, but here, it seems to fit best in their room. Sammy walked into the room and immediately said, "Oh look, here's the Phillipines," and he correctly pointed to the Phillipines. I assumed it was something he learned in Kindergarten during these past few days because there are a few Filipino children in his class.

Then, he pointed to Brazil (again, correctly). This time, I figured he read the word.

Next, he pointed to Papua New Guinea. Not only did he pronounce it right, but he was spot on with his i.d. of this rather obscure, smallish country which shares half of the island of New Guinea with Indonesia. He even pointed to the right side of the island. I was pretty sure he didn't learn about Papua New Guinea in school, didn't think he could read the words with such proper pronounciation, so I started to wonder.

Next he pointed to the teeny, tiny African country of Djibouti. I doubt most people have even heard of this country, let alone be able to identify it on a map. I was certain this time that he wasn't reading the word, because Djibouti sounds like Ja-boo-ti and that is exactly how he pronounced it!

Sam continued to identify really obscure countries for a few minutes until finally, we asked, "Sam, how do you know about these countries?--" wondering if perhaps he has the best kindergarten teacher ever.

"Scientific Smart Globe," he replied....

Apparently this was a VERY good use of our money!