In 2011, Erica Kral started a small home daycare because she wanted something different for her son.
What began with one mother’s search for care she could believe in became Green Garden: a place built around childhood, relationships, and the people who help children grow.
Erica was a single mom in Metro Detroit looking for the best possible early childhood experience for her son. In 2011, she opened Green Garden Home Daycare in Ferndale and began building it herself, one relationship with a child and family at a time.
She wanted children to be known as people with ideas of their own. She wanted families to feel welcomed into the daily life of the school and educators to have the room and support to pay attention. In July 2012, Green Garden opened its Madison Heights center. Over time, more families and educators joined, and the community grew into the schools it is today.
Today, Erica is a wife and mother of four boys. The family pictured above is a reminder of how personal this work has always been for her. Even as Green Garden has grown, she keeps asking the question that started it: is this the kind of childhood we want for our own children?
A mother’s search became a commitment to other families.
How the story grew
From one home to five schools.
Each opening brought Erica’s original question into a new community. These are the years the current schools joined Green Garden.
A home daycare in Ferndale.
Erica starts Green Garden Home Daycare with the kind of experience she wanted for her son.
Madison Heights opens.
The first center opens its doors. Today, Madison Heights is one family-facing school across a Main and Infant & Toddler building.
Hazel Park opens.
Its three classrooms become a close-knit place for children and families to feel at home.
Huntington Woods opens.
Another Green Garden community takes root, with outdoor discovery woven into the day.
Macomb opens.
The school welcomes families; its trail and outdoor classrooms now give children room to return to discoveries.
Clawson opens.
Art, outdoor classrooms, movement, and care for living things add a new chapter to the story.
The promise grew
What that belief asks of us.
Our story is still being written in the choices people make each day: how they listen, what they offer children, and the way they care for a place together.
01 · CHILDHOOD
Let children lead with curiosity.
Real materials, open questions, and time to return to an idea tell children that their thinking matters.
Five family-facing schools across six buildings each have their own people and personality. They share a commitment to play, nature, relationships, and taking children seriously.
What kind of world are we helping a child believe is possible?
The people carrying the work
Meet our leadership.
Green Garden is shaped by people who care about the child in a room and the systems that support the adults beside that child.
Founder & CEO
Erica Kral
Erica founded Green Garden from a deeply personal belief that her son deserved an extraordinary early childhood. She continues to ask how children, families, educators, and the communities around them can grow together. Her vision keeps the organization focused on what care can make possible.
Chief Operating Officer
Samantha Ford
Sam has grown alongside Green Garden from its early days. She connects vision to practice across the schools, strengthening the systems, educator growth, and daily decisions that make quality visible. As a Green Garden parent, the work is personal for her, too.
The people in each place
Meet our Campus Directors.
Each school has its own people and personality. These leaders help carry Erica’s original commitment into the everyday experience of children, families, and educators.
Madison Heights
Lannie
Campus Director
With Green Garden since 2018, Lannie knows the children and families who grow across Madison Heights’ two buildings. She is also a Green Garden parent and parent of a graduate.
Jeni spent her first year learning Green Garden and now leads Macomb. She helped open its third GSRP classroom and is building a school community where people value one another.
Roz holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and loves inspiring educators to see children differently. Three of her children have attended or still attend Green Garden.
Sami joined Green Garden in 2022 as a substitute, then found her place teaching toddlers. She now leads Huntington Woods and helps families and educators feel connected.
Crystal helped build Hazel Park when it opened in 2016. Her warmth and knowledge of its families make the three-classroom school feel like a home away from home.
Campus teams are backed by people working on educator development, family relationships, food, outdoor spaces, finance, and facilities. Their work makes the everyday experience possible.
Shelby SchaedingRegional Director
Sarah LambrixHead Early Childhood Specialist
Megan RhyndressDirector of Finance & Administration
Matt HarrisDirector of Nutrition & Outdoor Classrooms
Alex BatemanFacilities Manager
Sara EvansNature Specialist
Still becoming
There is always more to learn about a child.
We keep growing because children do. A new question, a hard moment, a family sharing what they know, or a teacher changing their response can move the work forward. Our story is the daily practice of paying attention and choosing care again.
