Country Camp offers three trimesters of academic year programing for elementary school students (K-6) along with a select number of 4-year-old students. We are currently accepting students for the 2024-2025 school year. Please email our Director Janet Schlapkohl with questions, to set up a visit, and/or to request an application form. Academic year programming runs from 8:30am-3:30pm M-F. We begin after Labor Day and end with graduation the last week in May.
Our students have demonstrated high levels of achievement on academic testing. They have also increased skills in performance, responsive acting, vocal projection and pitch, dance, and musical instruments (ukulele). Several of our students have performed in productions with ICCT, CCPA, Young Footlighters, and Combined Efforts.
Our unique curriculum integrates outdoor learning, animal care (chores), mathematics, science, reading and English language arts, music, art, German, ASL, theatre, and dramatic costumed play built around student imagination and our historical thematic units. Each academic year offers four performances with all of our students.
We have multi-age classes with the school divided into three core learning groups. All students join back together throughout the day. Students are either Independent Public Instruction (IPI) or are enrolled in the ICCSD Homeschool Assistance Program (ICHSAP). We have an excellent working relationship with the Iowa City School District. Staff from the ICHSAP enjoy visiting our program (and the animals!)
- IPI: This option does not require a child to register with the Iowa City School District (ICCSD). Instruction is supervised under Janet Schlapkohl’s teaching license and using our curriculum. Janet has a Master Teacher license with the State of Iowa and her folder number is available upon request.
- ICHSAP: This option requires a child to be enrolled with ICCSD as a homeschool student, but the instruction takes place at Country Camp using our curriculum. This option requires periodic contact with an assigned ICCSD homeschool assistance teacher. ICHSAP students have the option of taking the annual basic skills exam. They also have the option of attending ICCSD programming.
About Our Instructors
Janet Story Schlapkohl
Janet is a teacher, playwright, actress, and Director of Country Camp. She has over forty years of teaching experience, from preschool through university students. She is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa, teaching future teachers. Writing commissions include: UI Labor Center, UI Iowa Women’s Archives, UI Human Rights Center, Center for Worker Justice, Theatre Masters, and the AFL-CIO. Her work has been performed in LA, at The Road Theatre, Chicago, New York, Tennessee, and across Iowa. In 2002, she founded Combined Efforts Theatre, a non-profit organization for performers with special needs. Education: MFA in Playwriting and MS from the University of Iowa, BS in Biology from Iowa State University. She has been the recipient of the Theatre Master’s award, Visionary Playwright’s award, the Isabelle Turner Human Rights Award, the Richard Maibaum Award, the Human Rights graduate student award and the Finkbine Award for Human Rights. https://janetschlapkohl.com/
Janet will be the supervising instructor and also teach several classes.
Andrew Wilkes
Andrew Wilkes is a proud Iowa City native. He graduated City High in 2010 and the University of Iowa in 2014. After graduating with a BA in Theatre Arts he moved to Seattle started working at Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) and Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool. He taught with SCT in gen Ed and special Ed classrooms and taught theatre in American Sign Language to residents and community members of a Deaf Women’s shelter. Andrew also collaborates with Ease Drama in Beijing to reach theatre and English internationally and lead workshops on Play to groups of parents and teachers.
Tuition
2023-2024 fees for academic year programming are $222/week per student. Fees are pro-rated according to the number of days of instruction. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available.
Courses Offered
Country Camp curriculum is very unique. Core areas (math, language arts, science, art) are integrated using dramatic re-enactments of social movements and historic events with a focus on marginalized voices and populations.
| Dramatic Writing Play formatting (ten-minute play) Screenplay formatting (ten-minute screenplay) Persuasive Essay Fiction Writing Writing an Event Report Adapting a Story Spelling (based on the root – Greek, Latin, etc.) Grammar | Reading Comprehension Spelling (grade-level appropriate) Phonics Grammar |
| Literature Regional Folk Tale Comparisons (America) Regional Fairy Tale Comparisons (German, English, Russian, French) | Speech Reading and Retelling Partner Reading Critique Elocution |
| World History Geography Social Movements Exploration Indigenous Nations Government Systems Shelters, Resources | Theatre Stage Terms Staging Basics Vocal Exercise (outdoors) Costumes Props Set Design, Simple Construction Performance |
| Animal Husbandry Basic Care (goats, chickens, pigs, cows, calves, sheep) Veterinarian Visit Basic Anatomy (comparative anatomy) | Languages German Spanish American Sign Language |
| Mathematics Basic Math, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division (long and short) Mathematics for Construction (measuring, marking, division) Charting and Graphic Science (rainfall, temperature, barometric pressure) Mathematics for Engineering (geometry) | Chemistry Atom and Molecular Structure (creating a model) Basic Chemical Equations Periodic Table of the Elements Acids and Bases Chemistry of Living Systems |
| Biology Mammalian and Vertebrate Anatomy Pond Systems and Wetlands Basics of Binomial Nomenclature Medicine and Health (nutrition, first aid, cellular metabolism) Ecology | Botany Prairie Life Compatible Plantings Beneficial Insects Basic Plant Structure (leaf, stem roots, bulbs, tubers, runners, flowers, fruits) Photosynthesis |
| Arts and Crafts Patterns in Nature Replication and Design Creating Natural Dyes Felting Weaving Knitting and Crocheting Basic Drawing (pencil) Resistance Wax Beginning Sewing (hand and machine) | Music We ask parents to purchase a ukulele for their student. |
| Physical Exercise Running Games Stretching Use of the Play Structures Dance |
Country Camp 
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