At open houses, school fairs, coffeehouse meetups, rallies, and more, millions of Americans - students, parents, teachers, school leaders, small business owners, elected officials, and individuals - are gathering to raise awareness of the importance of opportunity in education and the doors that it opens.

At its heart, that is what school choice is all about: opening doors.

For families, school choice opens doors to different types of schools, making it more likely that students can find education settings that inspire them to succeed and be happy.

These options include traditional public schools, magnet schools, charter schools, private and parochial schools, virtual schools, and home schools. All of these choices are important, and all of these doors should be opened, because every child is unique. A school that works for one student may not work for another.

And school choice continues to open doors for students after they graduate.

With a strong K-12 education, students are more likely to be successful in college, in a vocational program, and in their careers.

In my eight years as President of National School Choice Week, I have witnessed story after story of children finding opportunities they never thought possible, precisely because of school choice.

I have seen students attend college and go on to graduate with masters' degrees, even though their parents hadn't finished high school.

I've seen students with special needs find a setting where they've thrived. I've seen students who discovered their passions, escaped bullying, and grew in confidence.

And that's what makes school choice - and National School Choice Week - so exciting.

Everyone can be a part of this celebration.

So whether you're looking for a school for your child and want to learn more about your options during the Week, or whether you take time to get informed about all the choices available in your area and share that awareness with others, you're helping the children in your neighborhood.

Above all, I hope you will use National School Choice Week to open doors, for your family or for other families. The next generation will thank you.

Start today by visiting schoolchoiceweek.com.

A whopping 84 percent of parents surveyed said they'd "welcome" contributions to their 529 college savings accounts in lieu of other traditional presents, according to new data from Fidelity Investments. However, only 29 percent had actually asked for such assistance. 

What's holding parents back? Well, maybe they still believe in Santa - good luck with that - or maybe they haven't heard about programs like the free online one at Fidelity that lets friends and family easily chip in to lessen the burden. 

And quite a burden it is, given that the College Board's Trends in College Pricing 2017 listed the average total annual charges (tuition, fees, room and board) of a private four-year college at $50,900, an in-state public four-year college at $25,290, and an out-of-state public four-year college at $40,940. 

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No doubt, there are many sources that sponsor holiday clothing collections, but savvy shoppers can support a variety of causes in a quest to win the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, or make a splashy holiday statement.

Some strategies to get a smile, while staying warm and comfortable this season and donating to a worthwhile charity, include:

* Sweaters: The Ugly Christmas Sweater has become a must-wear for any holiday party. Those who embrace the sweater party spirit can do something extra this season by browsing ugly holiday sweaters at iEDM.com

Whether you don one nostalgically or ironically, it's wearable joy and a great way to spark up a conversation. With themes ranging from Grumpy Cat to PacMan, Grinch and Alice in Wonderland, they have plenty of options for your next Christmas party.

If you're throwing your own Ugly Christmas Sweater party, you may want to consider picking up a couple of extras for guests who dare to show up without one.

iEDM donates 5 percent of its holiday profits to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to support its research and treatment, and support families with children undergoing treatment.

* Hoodies: Not feeling the Ugly Christmas Sweater theme??Why not wear an Ugly Christmas Hoodie instead?

These iconic staples to anyone's wardrobe can be stylish and versatile and be the perfect ensemble to a party.

For a truly unique holiday hoodie, companies such as Epic Hoodie have a wide selection of colorful hoodies and a curated collection that showcases the original work of artists, each of whom receives a portion of every sale.

These Ugly Christmas hoodies are handmade in the United States using eco-sustainable inks and fabrics.

Have a raver on your Christmas list? iEDM has just what you're looking for with its rave hoodies in all kinds of colors.

* Onesies: If you're unsure what to wear to your office Christmas Party, why not make the ultimate splash and rock a vivid, comfortable, and eco-friendly adult onesie? Onesielife is a first of its kind, all-over-print streetwear onesie company.

Bonus? All onesies are handmade in the USA, and this retailer donates 5 percent of every purchase to the nonprofit Children's International, which provides food and services to children in need around the world.

Whatever your need this holiday season - be it an Ugly Christmas Sweater for a party you're attending or throwing, an Ugly Christmas hoodie to keep warm or wear out, an adult Christmas onesie to be the envy of any event, or a gift for your favorite raver - you can find everything you need here.

To learn more about these unique collections, visit iEDM.com, epichoodie.com, and onesielife.com.

"The largest transfer of wealth in history is now underway, and it is in the form of established operating businesses owned by Baby Boomers," according to a white paper by C2C Business Strategies, LLC, a business management and consulting organization specializing in business transitions.

Baby boomers and their transition advisors will face several challenges over the next several decades.

Some tips to make the most of the transition include:

- Prep work: Many baby boomer business owners have given little or no thought to the transition process, and they may find themselves unable to sell the business when they want to. Most financial consultants recommend a lead time of three to five years to prepare a business. Meanwhile, as more baby boomers seek retirement, the surplus of businesses available for sale may reduce business values.

- True value: Survey findings of business owners suggest that many overestimate the value of a business because they are basing estimates on projections or future orders rather than the current cash the business is generating.

- Good advice: Baby boomers looking to sell their business can benefit from a skilled transition advisor to guide and direct the process. Advisors can help business owners decide on a realistic price and determine a sale structure that works for both buyers and sellers.

As in the case of a real estate agent negotiating a home sale, a business advisor will find the right buyer for a business and will work with the buyer and seller until the transaction is complete.

Tips for business owners to help ensure a smooth sale include:

- Good housekeeping: Make sure all financial information is current and in order. Time is essential once a business-sale transaction is underway, so don't slow down the process by scrambling for information.

- Flexible financing: Data show that sellers who accept financing terms receive, on average, 86 percent of their asking price, compared with 70 percent for those who will only accept cash. An advisor can help sellers evaluate financing terms to maximize sale prices.

For more information about transitioning out of a business, visit rysgp.com.

Recent "food trend" studies show that more people are making vegetables the main course of their meals. Although the interest in healthy eating extends to all age groups, millennials seem to be driving this healthful food trend. Data from the NPD Group suggests that people younger than 40 are eating 52 percent more fresh vegetables compared with young adults 10 years ago, and that preference is likely to continue as they age.

In support of this trend, professional chefs, bloggers, restaurants and home cooks are embracing the flavors of a vast variety of vegetables, from common to exotic. Episodes of the popular "Iron Chef" television show feature vegetable-centric meals and a recent article in New York magazine noted, "Simply put, the once-meat-obsessed populace is realizing that vegetables actually taste good. Especially when fresh, in season, and carefully prepared."

You'll see that many restaurants now offer vegetable-based entrees that have inspired home cooks to explore the healthy and delicious potential of making fresh vegetables a main course.

Some reasons driving the shift in popularity of vegetables over meat include:

- Vine-Ripened, great taste. Homegrown vegetables have a home field advantage when it comes to flavor because they stay on the vine to fully ripen and are harvested just before eating. Store bought veggies are often harvested before they're fully ripe, so they don't spoil on the journey to the store. Once picked from the vine, sugars begin to turn to starch-and that homegrown sweetness dissipates.

- Good health. Everyone knows that vegetables are good for you, but research backs it up. In a study of over 130,000, in the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine, consumption of plant protein is associated with longer life compared with animal protein consumption.

- Good stewardship. Eating more vegetables and less meat can have a positive effect on the environment. Data from the University of Oxford, England, suggests that eating more vegetables could have a greater impact on reducing one's carbon footprint than giving up a car!

As vegetables grow in popularity and push meat from the center of the plate, more people are interested not only in eating more vegetables, but eating locally grown vegetables - hey, what's more local than growing your own veggies at home? Growing vegetables at home is convenient, satisfying, a money-saver in the produce aisle, and they'll taste better, too!

Fortunately for the home gardener, professional growers make it easy to grow nutritious and delicious vegetables at home. Bonnie Plants, for example, is a greenhouse grower offering more than 250 varieties of vegetable, herb, and fruit plants, ranging from traditional favorites to new and different choices. Some easy-to-grow options for your veggie main course include hearty tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and zucchini.

Bonnie Plants operates more than 70 greenhouse facilities in 48 states and trucks fresh plants from greenhouses to retailers near you, so they're ready for planting upon purchase, and you'll harvest six weeks sooner than if you grow from seed. Plus, the plants are grown a truck-ride away from the retailers that sell them. Don't worry if you have little outdoor space, patio-ready caged varieties and combo pots are available as great options for small spaces.

Curious home gardeners interested in healthy eating can enjoy experimenting with vegetables to replace meat. For a new take on burgers, try substituting squash. Veggie burgers, like their meat-based counterparts, can be made in advance, frozen in patties, and pulled out for easy reheating as a healthy burger choice on a busy night. Try putting a new spin on salad, substituting Swiss chard for a fresh, peppy taste in lieu of such standbys as lettuce, spinach, and arugula.

Time to season your homegrown veggies? Bonnie Plants also offers herb plants, so fresh seasoning is only a snip away with a quick trip to your garden plot or pot.

Visit bonnieplants.com for more information on varieties along with planting tips, tending, troubleshooting, harvesting, and a plethora of delicious recipes to try!

The relocation shuffle 

Although Amy was perfectly happy with her first little house and made lots of friends in Grand Rapids, a job opportunity popped up that was too good to turn down. She recently relocated to Pittsburgh, where she serves as a regional sales manager for a major food distribution company.

Before her move, she experienced the ups and downs of both buying and selling houses in two different states. 

Selling a first home in Michigan 

"Lucky for me, Grand Rapids has a shortage of homes for sale and a lot of buyers. I didn't have a chance to make any improvements on my house, a farmhouse built in 1904, but I did add a simple deck and lots of flowers and new bushes. It has more curb appeal than when I bought it," Amy says. She says that the hardest part about selling a house was making sure it was clean all the time and ready for prospective buyers to tour.

Amy ultimately sold her house for $161,000, $21,000 more than what she paid in 2017. Even in that time, she accumulated some equity and walked away with a total of $28,000 when the sale closed. 

Buying a new house in Pennsylvania 

The next step was to find a house in Pittsburgh. Home prices are higher there, compared to Grand Rapids, Amy notes. She wanted to buy a nicer, more expensive home this time around.

"I found one that was a little bit above my price range at $200,000. But it's in perfect condition. I don't have to worry about repairs or anything," Amy says. Plus, coffee shops and restaurants are within walking distance.

She explains, "I could have used all of the proceeds from the sale of my house as my down payment. But I didn't want to drain my savings account. I used private mortgage insurance (PMI) again, so I could put less money down. I could have put 10 percent or $20,000 down, but I opted for a 5-percent down payment of $10,000 instead. My monthly payment is a little bit higher, but still affordable. Thanks to PMI, I could buy a bigger, better house and still have money in the bank."

Are you ready to buy a house right now? Or should you wait to save more for a down payment? Check out this calculator to find out: mgic.com/buynow. And for more information on how mortgage insurance can help you put less money down, go to readynest.com.

However, only certain products are truly effective at promoting the deepest, most restful sleep needed for no morning drowsiness. The deeper the sleep, the better for the restoration of your mind and body.

During sleep, your brain goes through five stages that repeat in approximately 90-minute cycles. These stages are divided into non-REM and REM sleep.

Non-REM: The first stage of non-REM (non-Rapid Eye Movement) sleep starts when you first fall asleep (stage 1) and progresses through stage 2 of light sleep.

Stages 3 and 4 are the deepest and most restorative times of sleep, when your heart rate slows, your muscles and skin heal and grow, and your immune system recharges.

REM: REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, is the shallow sleep that occurs as the fifth and last stage of a sleep cycle. REM sleep is associated with dreams, learning, and memory.

Some sleep aid products, such as melatonin, focus on sleep quantity. While these types of products can make you sleepy, many people who have trouble sleeping can't relax their brains into deep sleep. Certain amino acids, however, such as glycine, can help.

Glysom is a unique dietary supplement that contains glycine. Unlike some other glycine supplements on the market, Glysom has been well studied as a sleep supplement to show that it is effective, helping the brain to relax into the deep sleep cycle.

Data on Glysom have shown that the product can help promote deeper and more restful non-REM sleep without such side effects as daytime sleepiness.

Glysom is not an injection or pill; it is available in small packets as a lemon-flavored powder to help make it easy to take.

For more than a decade, Glysom was only available from health care professionals, but it is now available directly to consumers.

Glysom is produced by Ajinomoto, a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of amino acid products.

For more information about Glysom and how to improve sleep quality, visit glysom.com.

(NewsUSA) - A non-surgical technique for lifting double chins, reducing puffiness around the eyes, and improving the appearance of wrinkles is now available in the form of an easy-to-use home kit called The Face Wrap. (www.facewrap.com).

Previously available as a salon-only treatment, The Face Wrap lifts and tightens drooping areas on the forehead, face, and under the chin by firmly wrapping them up in a mineral-soaked, non-allergenic "face wrap" constructed of non-latex elasticized cotton fabric.

"The liquid minerals are the secret to the Face Wrap," says Sarah Bolger, The Face Wrap's spokesperson. "The minerals, which are all-natural, draw out impurities from the complexion while giving the skin a firmed and tighter look on the outside and a rejuvenated feel to the underlying tissues."

Bolger says the all-natural, one-hour facial beautification procedure is safe and painless.

"Our Face Wrap kits have wrapped many thousands of faces, and we've learned how to produce wonderful changes," says Bolger. "For those looking for an alternative to cosmetic surgery, wrapping your face is an easier way to reduce double chins and puffiness, lift and tighten the skin and enhance your own natural beauty."

Bolger also recommends exfoliating before using to allow the minerals to absorb better, and exercising the face daily with a few simple exercises.

Working women want to look their best - especially after 50. But let's face it, most working women find it difficult to carve out an hour or two a week for visits to the day spa. That's the appeal of the home kit. The one-hour treatment can be done at home while reading or on the computer or while resting.

Women generally look five- to ten years younger after a series of three to six treatments. Most people are surprised to see their cheekbones and jaw bones again!

Visit www.facewrap.com for more information. The kit costs $139 and contains enough minerals for at least 20 treatments, or about $7 per treatment. A lot less than $80-plus for various salon treatments.

Fortunately, companies like 7-Eleven are leading the way in offering innovative solutions aimed to help consumers mitigate the negative environmental effects of car travel, giving them a chance to make a difference.

Through a program called RENEW, 7-Eleven calculates tailpipe carbon emissions and offsets those emissions through local and global carbon reduction projects, including reforestation and tree plantings.

"As a brand 7-Eleven has committed to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goal no. 7 and no. 11. These goals center around providing more sustainable energy for consumers and giving back to our local communities. That's why we introduced the 7-Eleven RENEW program and why it is so important," says Jason Murray, 7-Eleven Vice President of Operations for the Pacific Northwest. "We've made sustainability an easy option for our customers. By simply choosing to pump at a 7-Eleven RENEW location, drivers are proactively reducing their carbon impact by up to 30 percent."

RENEW launched in 2017 and recently reached a milestone of offsetting more than 150 million gallons of fuel. In terms of carbon impact, that equates to powering more than 5.2 million homes' electricity for a day.

"What 7-Eleven is doing is an example of a community-minded business trying to help solve a very difficult problem," says Sharon, a 7-Eleven customer and a teacher in Tracy, California.

Community engagement is a cornerstone of the 7-Eleven RENEW program, which supports projects in collaboration with local and national nonprofit organizations. The Plant it Forward promotion, available at 658 locations, is an example of 7-Eleven's partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. Through Plant it Forward, 7-Eleven supports tree planting and invites customers and community members to dedicate a tree to friends or family members.

"We expect to see RENEW grow significantly this year. We want to ensure customers know that when they pull into a 7-Eleven RENEW location to pump their fuel, they are doing more than just pumping fuel. They are making a difference," Murray says. "We are proud of the RENEW program and the customers who participate because we are working together to save our environment locally and globally."

For more information and to find 7-Eleven RENEW locations, visit 7-ElevenRenew.com.

An interactive digital photo frame such as Skylight Frame helps families stay connected when other social media options are difficult.

For example, this solution has brought joy to a young boy who is being treated for a brain tumor and has to spend long periods of time away from home at the hospital. He now receives photos from his classmates back home through Skylight Frame.

"This little boy is one brave kid. He has been through so much and anything that can brighten his day is a winner in my book," says the boy's cousin, who rallied friends to purchase the frame. "Skylight Frame has been a way for friends all over to share some love," she says.

Each Skylight has its own unique email address where friends and family can send photos to - and they appear on the frame in seconds!

The key benefits of Skylight digital frame are ease of use and interactive features. Just plug in the frame and tap the screen to log in to WiFi and email photos to it! A visual notification appears when new photos arrive. In addition, users can tap a Heart button to thank senders or show they especially liked a particular photo.

Skylight's Plus plan also allows you to send videos to the frame, add captions to photos, and manage it all from its mobile app and cloud portal. This makes it easy for anyone to gift it to an older loved one, and then manage the frame remotely.

Use code NEWS for $10 off at www.skylightframe.com.