US regions you learned in school vs your "personal" US regions

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

I used to have a placemat that had the regions of the United States. It's like the below map...

Northeast Southeast Midwest Southwest West

...except the Tri-State Area (PA, NJ, NY) formed their own Mid-Atlantic Area, Maryland and Deleware were part of the Southeast and the Pacific Coast states (plus Alaska and Hawaii) formed their own separate region.

I always thought Deleware and Maryland were closer to the Tri-State Area than to the South, which should also be split into two regions.