Our History

The 2024-2025 school year marks the first year Homestead School will graduate its first cohort of 12th graders. 

In addition to receiving their High School diploma, many of our 12th graders will also receive Associate’s Degrees in their chosen disciplines from our partner SUNY Sullivan.

After providing over 40 years of exceptional education, Homestead School receives it’s 501(c)(3) status in June 2021.

In December of 2020, the Homestead School announced its partnership with SUNY Sullivan to create a Secondary Montessori program called the Collaborative College High School.

With a new campus in Hurleyville New York, the Secondary Program offers students a Montessori and permaculture based Homestead education from grades 7-12, graduating with a High School diploma and Associate’s Degree.

Within weeks of COVID striking New York City, Friends of the Homestead School funded a PPE Project led by Jack Comstock through which over 2,000 face shields were produced and distributed to healthcare workers locally and in New York City when PPE was scarce.

The Climate Lab was founded through the partnership of Catskill Mountainkeeper, The Center for Discovery, and Friends of the Homestead School in honor of the Homestead’s 40th anniversary and it’s many years of environmental education, advocacy, and fundraising. The generous $25,000 grant is available to students and staff of the Homestead School to advance learning in the areas of environmental and climate education.

In 2018, we constructed our 1,500 square foot tropical geodesic dome which our Middle School students helped create by designing and planting the tropical food forest.

A unique feature of our school and well-loved learning environment by our students and teachers alike, our bio dome gives all Homestead students the opportunity to learn about ecosystems.

In 2017, Homestead began to develop our permaculture curriculum, beginning with planting fruit and nut trees, keeping honey bees, and developing a plan for a bio dome. Permaculture education continues to be an essential part of the Homestead School to this day.

Ten years after opening our Upper Elementary, we opened our Middle School (grades 7-8) in 2015. Since then, we have successfully graduated several classes culminating in the Hero’s Journey and the Micro Business Project.

As the school grew to include upper grades and the curriculum began to address issues with global energy consumption and production, Homestead students became passionate about the institution of solar panels.  The Upper Elementary class of 2012 designed reusable water bottles, T-shirts, and hoodies focused on green energy and raised $10,000 to begin the installation. By the end of the summer of 2012, solar panels were installed to cover all of Homestead’s electrical energy usage.

Working within the concentric circles of class, school, local community, and global family, each class begins doing at least one service project annually.  Projects range from reading buddies across classes to raising money for animal shelters, to food and money collection for local food pantries, to offering micro-loans to women in developing countries.

After decades of offering early childhood and lower elementary education, Homestead fulfilled a long-time dream of offering grades 4 to 6 in 2005, building an extension on the tennis court building to house the program.

Marsha Comstock combined her love of art with her passion for conservation and partnered Homestead students with SaveNature.org. Martha pioneered the Rainforest Project, a program in which the students create specific works of art to be sold.  The proceeds of those pieces are used to buy acreage of rainforest to be preserved through SaveNature.org.

The program continues today. Since the inception of the program, Homestead families have raised $129,320 toward the preservation of 1,192 acres of rainforest.

The first structure at the Homestead was built by Peter Comstock’s great-grandfather around 1870. The land was a 200 year old, 85 acre homestead of the locally prominent McKenzie family.

In 1975, Peter and Marsha settled there permanently and officially started the school in 1978. Not one summer passed without a major building expansion project — numerous additions, a big barn, stonewalls, and eventually four new educational structures.