Founder’s Story
From mountain childhood memories to a purposeful Montessori community
Long before I had the words to describe the kind of place I hoped to create for children, I experienced it in the mountains of North Carolina.
My childhood was shaped by long days outdoors, foraging for mushrooms and herbs with my family, catching crawdads in the creeks, building forts, and running beneath the fireflies at night.
Nature was not somewhere we occasionally visited. It was part of the rhythm of our lives. It gave me freedom, wonder, confidence, and a deep connection to the world around me. I did not know it then, but those experiences would become part of the foundation for everything I hoped to create for children.
Montessori was my first home within early childhood education. I spent four years at a Montessori school in Breckenridge, and even as my career later carried me into Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, and more traditional educational settings, my heart continued to return to Montessori’s calm, beauty, focus, and deep respect for the child.
A lifelong vision shaped by nature, Montessori, creativity, and community.
Treehouse Montessori School became part of my life when I visited to observe as part of my own education. I immediately noticed the peaceful environment and the purposeful way the children moved within it. What appeared so natural was actually deeply intentional, a carefully prepared environment, meaningful work, and a philosophy that recognized the remarkable capabilities of children from their earliest years.
There was something here worth protecting.
When I was given the opportunity to take over this beautiful little school in 2013, everything I had experienced began coming together. Treehouse’s authentic Montessori foundation remained firmly at its heart while becoming enriched by creativity, warmth, relationships, rhythm, nature, and community.
The Canopy Collective is the next chapter of that evolution.
~Crystal
Founder, The Canopy Collective at Treehouse
What to dig a little deeper into the story? Explore below:
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I wanted to create a place where children did not have to hurry through childhood, a place filled with peace, beauty, focus, movement, creativity, meaningful work, and the freedom to become fully themselves.
I wanted families to feel that they were not simply enrolling in a program, but becoming part of a community. I also wanted educators to be valued not only for what they give, but for who they are. Children thrive when the adults caring for them are also trusted, inspired, connected, and supported.
This work has never been “just childcare.” It is an opportunity and an honor to participate in shaping the future. Every time we protect curiosity, nurture kindness, encourage independent thought, or help a child recognize their own capability, we contribute to the kind of humanity that may come next.
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Becoming a mother has humbled me and deepened my understanding of the extraordinary trust families place in us, the trust that we will see their child, know them, protect them, challenge them, celebrate them, and love them well.
This work was a dream of mine long before my daughter came into my life. But when she did, that dream became more urgent, more personal, and somehow, more possible. She gave me a reason to bring to life, a little sooner, the kind of childhood and community I had imagined for so long.
My daughter has grown alongside this dream, sometimes quite literally carried on my back as I worked to bring it to life. The Canopy is her second home, and this community has become an extension of family for my husband, our beautiful daughter, and I.
She is so much of my motivation. I hope that one day she understands what I am building here, and how deeply I wanted to create something meaningful, not only for her, but for the children growing beside her and the families raising them.
Something rooted in childhood, connection, and belonging. Something that grows with them.
Something they will carry with them long after they leave the Canopy.
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When children and families leave The Canopy Collective, I hope they carry more than memories of a school.
I hope they carry a lifelong love of learning, the confidence to remain curious, and the courage to grow beyond even their own hopes and dreams. I hope families know that they will always have a place here and that this community continues to belong to them.
Most of all, I hope every child who grows beneath this Canopy carries the unshakable knowledge that they were seen, valued, capable, and deeply loved.
Interested in learning more about Roots & Roam Programing at The Canopy Collective?