Our Principles
For over 45 years, Homestead has been cultivating an educational experience that speaks not only to nurturing students, but one that directly contributes to a future we can all believe in. Our commitment as a school is to help our children and adolescents not only navigate the world as it is, but to imagine and build the world as the heart knows it could be. Below are some of the core principles we apply to our educational approach each and every day.
The Homestead School’s Circle of Care provides a guiding framework for how we can mutually support one another within our school community. Rooted in the principles of Earth Care, People Care, and Future Care, it embodies our commitment to fostering a harmonious relationship with the planet, nurturing the well-being of individuals and communities, and safeguarding the opportunities of future generations. This approach calls us to cultivate a community where each member feels valued, supported, and empowered, while collectively contributing to a flourishing, resilient environment that sustains and uplifts us all.
Circle of Care: An Education of Caring
Homestead School believes in a holistic model of care for our whole learning community. By adhering to these principles, we believe we are more capable of supporting and creating the world we can thrive in.
Earth Care
To care for the Earth is to honor and nurture the natural world that sustains us all
People Care
The commitment to support and uplift each other within our community and beyond
Future Care
Calls us to consider the well-being of generations to come, sharing resources wisely and responsibly
From their earliest years, Homestead students participate in creating and experiencing peace through quiet hikes in nature, song, and time spent with the school animals. They learn to build healthy, empathetic relationships and communicate effectively through the peace curriculum that is integral to the classroom culture. Just as the young elementary child learns about his or her place in the world, the older child learns one’s place in the concentric circles of community. Peace education becomes a process of inner development and outward service. Mixed-age classes in broad-aged school populations afford many opportunities for children to collaborate. Throughout their time at Homestead, students are introduced to, participate in, and lead initiatives that promote inclusion and respect.
This approach enhances each student’s sense of belonging and facilitates optimal learning. Our commitment as a school is to help our children and adolescents not only navigate the world as it is but to imagine and build the world as the heart knows it could be.
This is not an abstract hope. It is the living foundation of our curriculum, our pedagogy, and our relationships. We are aligning our educational programs with seven life-affirming, regenerative stories--a set of principles drawn from ecological wisdom, partnership culture, Indigenous knowledge, and spiritual traditions that see humanity not as separate, but as embedded within a sacred web of life.
Culture of Collaboration, Inclusiveness, and Respect:
How We Practice Peace Education at Homestead
Here is the story we are living into:
🌱 From Separation to Interdependence
We teach that everything is connected. Students learn to see themselves as part of nature, not apart from it—through land stewardship, ecological literacy, and social-emotional awareness.
🌿 From Control to Participatory Wholeness
Our learning communities model collaboration, dialogue, and shared leadership. We prepare students not to dominate but to co-create—to listen deeply, to respond with empathy, and to contribute meaningfully.
🌾 From Scarcity to Generous Abundance
In community, students experience firsthand that generosity, reciprocity, and trust are the roots of resilience. Whether it’s sharing a harvest, solving a conflict, or lifting each other up—abundance flows from care.
🌍 From Growth to Regeneration
We measure success not by how fast we grow, but by how deeply we root. Students engage in projects that restore ecosystems, build sustainable systems, and contribute to thriving communities.
🎨 From Objectivity to Embodied Knowing
We honor many ways of knowing—intellectual, emotional, intuitive, and artistic. Through movement, reflection, storytelling, and hands-on work, students develop deep wisdom rooted in experience.
🤝 From Individualism to Communal Flourishing
Education is not a race. It is a shared journey. We foster belonging, mutual support, and a sense of responsibility to one another, so students know they are not alone, but part of something greater.
🌺 From Civilization Supremacy to Earth Community
We celebrate diverse cultures, stories, and systems of knowledge. Our students learn that the future is not a one-size-fits-all path, but a tapestry woven from many traditions, all rooted in care for the Earth and for one another.
This is not a passive vision. It’s a daily practice—in the classroom, in the garden, in circle, in seminar, in silence, and in celebration. Through this work, our students are not only learning how to be successful in the world—they are becoming the kind of people who can shape a better world: grounded, compassionate, visionary, and resilient.
Core Tenets of Homestead’s Peace Curriculum
Connection with Nature
Guides foster a deep love for and appreciation of nature through ample opportunities to explore the Homestead campus and the Montessori curriculum. Students develop a respect for nature and a sense of stewardship towards the earth.
Identity Work
Guides nurture each student’s construction of knowledgable, confident, individual personal and social identities. Students demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.
Cultural Appreciation & Diversity Work
Guides promote each student’s comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds. Students express comfort and joy with human diversity, use accurate language for human differences, and form deep caring connections across all dimensions of human diversity.
Justice & Activism
Guides foster each student’s capacity to identify bias critically and cultivate each student’s ability and confidence to stand up for oneself and others in the face of bias. Students increasingly recognize unfairness and demonstrate a sense of empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and discriminatory actions.
* Adapted from Louise Derman-Sparks’ goals of anti-bias education.