Jackson Free Press

Robert Langford, the executive director of Operation Shoestring, and Amber May, the organization's programs director, are in the business of staving off "summer slide."

Langford advises parents to start planning now for next summer.

"Really start to plan ahead and start thinking down the road," he says.

"It's really tough to do, but summer 2015 is going to be here a lot sooner than we think. Have a game plan and work that game plan. Realize that there are options out there, but it is ultimately up to parents to make these things happen for their kids."

Here are their tips for what parents, teachers and students can do.

Parents:

• Start looking now for programs. Any child 12 and younger shouldn't be at home by themselves, and older students need engaging options. Sometimes it may be programs that are offered to the schools, and sometimes it may be a program recommended by the school district office.

• Prioritize reading in the household. Start with reading a book, then ask some questions about it.

• Get with a group of parents and hold each other accountable. If getting books is the challenge, you might figure out a schedule to share books.

• Be persistent and tenacious about finding books or other resources.

• It's really important not to just drill, drill, drill during the summer, but to make it fun.

• Talk to your children. Have that conversation about your child's day or their hopes and dreams or about what they might be watching on TV. Ask them questions.

Teachers:

• Teachers can arm parents and other mentors with knowledge of what the child needs outside school. Does the child need some help in trying to read the words as fast as they possibly can or making sure that they actually understand what they read?

• Help come up with activities that can be done in the summer. Teachers can work in some of the summer programs or some of the summer schools.

• Summer is an opportunity for teachers to get really creative and very innovative and try to do some of those lessons that they would love to do inside the classroom that don't necessarily have the time.

• Teachers or schools could partner with a nonprofit to get books and resources for summer activities, such as asking Operation Shoestring to help raise money to buy 150 books.

Students:

• Find a summer program that sounds engaging. Older students can look for ways to be engaged and able to work in the summer.

• Read more books if they're able to. Ask their parents to take them to the library. If they're going away on trips, make sure to bring a book.

• Be sure parents are as knowledgeable as possible to the opportunities that they can enroll their child in. Help look for them yourselves.

• Learn the discipline of scheduling time to read. Scheduling an hour a day or two 30-minute blocks of reading doesn't take away from the fun of summer.

• Read every change you get, such as turning down the TV volume and reading closed captioning instead.