diff --git a/src/atom-environment.coffee b/src/atom-environment.coffee
index 134cf55d2..08f39f2d3 100644
--- a/src/atom-environment.coffee
+++ b/src/atom-environment.coffee
@@ -210,18 +210,12 @@ class AtomEnvironment extends Model
 
     @views.initialize()
 
-    @config.initialize({@configDirPath, resourcePath})
-    @projectHomeSchema = {
-      type: 'object',
-      properties: {
-        projectHome: {
-          type: 'string',
-          default: path.join(fs.getHomeDirectory(), 'github'),
-          description: 'The directory where projects are assumed to be located. Packages created using the Package Generator will be stored here by default.'
-        }
-      }
+    ConfigSchema.projectHome = {
+      type: 'string',
+      default: path.join(fs.getHomeDirectory(), 'github'),
+      description: 'The directory where projects are assumed to be located. Packages created using the Package Generator will be stored here by default.'
     }
-    @config.setSchema('core', @projectHomeSchema)
+    @config.initialize({@configDirPath, resourcePath, projectHomeSchema: ConfigSchema.projectHome})
 
     @keymaps.configDirPath = @configDirPath
     @keymaps.resourcePath = resourcePath
@@ -322,7 +316,6 @@ class AtomEnvironment extends Model
 
     @config.clear()
     @config.setSchema null, {type: 'object', properties: _.clone(ConfigSchema)}
-    @config.setSchema('core', @projectHomeSchema)
 
     @keymaps.clear()
     @keymaps.loadBundledKeymaps()
diff --git a/src/config.coffee b/src/config.coffee
index 575e95a72..46f3c8629 100644
--- a/src/config.coffee
+++ b/src/config.coffee
@@ -401,11 +401,13 @@ class Config
   constructor: ({@notificationManager, @enablePersistence}={}) ->
     @clear()
 
-  initialize: ({@configDirPath, @resourcePath}) ->
+  initialize: ({@configDirPath, @resourcePath, projectHomeSchema}) ->
     if @enablePersistence?
       @configFilePath = fs.resolve(@configDirPath, 'config', ['json', 'cson'])
       @configFilePath ?= path.join(@configDirPath, 'config.cson')
 
+    @schema.properties.core.properties.projectHome = projectHomeSchema
+
   clear: ->
     @emitter = new Emitter
     @schema =
diff --git a/src/main-process/atom-application.coffee b/src/main-process/atom-application.coffee
index de7d7289c..1df5b9e03 100644
--- a/src/main-process/atom-application.coffee
+++ b/src/main-process/atom-application.coffee
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ url = require 'url'
 _ = require 'underscore-plus'
 FindParentDir = null
 Resolve = null
+ConfigSchema = require '../config-schema'
 
 LocationSuffixRegExp = /(:\d+)(:\d+)?$/
 
@@ -69,8 +70,13 @@ class AtomApplication
     @windows = []
 
     @config = new Config({enablePersistence: true})
-    @config.initialize({configDirPath: process.env.ATOM_HOME, @resourcePath})
-    @config.setSchema null, {type: 'object', properties: _.clone(require('../config-schema'))}
+    @config.setSchema null, {type: 'object', properties: _.clone(ConfigSchema)}
+    ConfigSchema.projectHome = {
+      type: 'string',
+      default: path.join(fs.getHomeDirectory(), 'github'),
+      description: 'The directory where projects are assumed to be located. Packages created using the Package Generator will be stored here by default.'
+    }
+    @config.initialize({configDirPath: process.env.ATOM_HOME, @resourcePath, projectHomeSchema: ConfigSchema.projectHome})
     @config.load()
     @fileRecoveryService = new FileRecoveryService(path.join(process.env.ATOM_HOME, "recovery"))
     @storageFolder = new StorageFolder(process.env.ATOM_HOME)