Summer’s last precious moments are fleeting for schoolchildren, too fleeting to waste, but unfortunately, the shopping lists are long.

Parents and children hit the stores last week, working to prepare for a new year with new supplies.

For Vidalia resident Jana Stephens, the goal is simple. She just wants her children’s clothes to match.

Uniforms help, keeping clothing choices simple. But if her son’s belt and shoes do not match, it is a big deal to Mom.

“If anything, my children will know how to dress, ” Stephens said.

Stephens was walking through the aisles of the Vidalia Walmart Wednesday afternoon with her son Braeden, who will be a third-grade student at Vidalia Upper Elementary when school starts next week.

“The only thing I hate about school is going to it (in the morning),” Braeden said.

The pair was nearly done with the back-to-school shopping, but Jana wanted to make sure she found the right color belt for her son.

“It’s going to get crazy soon,” Jana said. “And I’ll be home writing names on my kids’ stuff.”

Part of the reason Jana wanted to get an early start was to miss the rush.

Back-to-school preparations have to be done nearing the last minute for Natchez resident Noelle Speed.

Speed is a nurse, and with her schedule, shopping cannot be done a little at a time.

Speed and her daughter Brooksie were shopping for locker decorations last week.

Brooksie is entering sixth grade at Cathedral School, and she is will have a locker for the first time.

The Speeds were on a multiple-store trip to Office Depot first for decorations and next to Walmart to find fabrics to personalize the locker.

But Natchez resident Rita Bailey was just out shopping for the basics.

Her grandson, Hunter, is starting his first fall semester at Adams County Christian School.

Hunter had transferred to ACCS in spring last year, and Bailey said her grandson was excited to start the year with all his classmates.

“I’m getting the essentials right now before orientation,” Bailey said.

Bailey said she knew from experience the list she has now is only going to grow after her grandson goes through orientation, but she knows Hunter will need a few things.

“My other daughter’s son goes to ACCS, and she said he’ll need a bunch of note cards,” Bailey said as she put note cards of a variety of different sizes into her basket.

Essentials were all Judy Smith was after when she went back-to-school shopping for 40 different children.

Smith is a Sunday school teacher at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hamburg. She came to Natchez to get notebooks for her students.

“I have no children,” Smith said. “And this is me taking off the pressure of the parents.

“It’s a joy for me. They are only ‘adopted’ children, but I try to do something for them,” Smith said. “We don’t want the kids to do without.”

Public schools in Natchez and Concordia Parish and Cathedral and ACCS, begin the new school year Aug. 11.

Trinity Episcopal Day School will begin Aug. 14.

Delta Charter School in Ferriday will have orientation days Aug. 11-13 for different grades. The first full day will be Aug. 14.