more pressure on Joey

In between the playdates and gingerbread-house decorating and occasional half-hours playing Club Penguin that are highlights of his winter break, my ten-year-old son Joey has been quite energetically studying geography. There's a Geography Bee at his school on Jan. 4, and I've told him if he wins it (and goes on to the regional level) I'm going to break down and get him that iPod he tells me "every" fifth grader now has.
I'm hoping that his studies will bring home to him the fact (among others) that I might much more easily claim that "every" fifth-grader doesn't have access to clean water -- statistically far more true.
The Geo Bee is open to 4th-8th graders. This is the first time Joey has been in a class that's competing. I bless his teacher for that, and am thrilled to see the Bee becoming more common throughout the US.
American's geographic ignorance is legendary, and so scandalous. In a survey just a few years ago by the National Geographic Society, almost one third of Americans aged 18 to 24 couldn't find the Pacific Ocean on a map. I'll admit that before starting to help prep Joey this year, I didn't know all the U.S. state capitals. But at least I could find Iraq on a map, unlike 85 percent of Americans in the survey.
Joey now has a big world map over his bed. To my immense delight this morning, I also found him reading, on his own, a wonderful book I recommend to all parents called "Material World: A Global Family Portrait." With beautiful photographs and informative text, it illustrates how the rest of the world lives -- typical families in scores of different countries pose with all their possessions in front of their homes. This book would make a terrific gift during this season of conspicuous consumption.

here's the link