A Note from Our Founder
I’m Melanie Williams, the founder and director of Haywood Haven, and I still love every minute of it.
I started this journey as the teacher for every student, from fourth grade through high school. In those early days, I wore every hat: teacher, counselor, and curriculum designer. As the program grew, I became both administrator and teacher, still carrying a full class load because I couldn’t imagine not being in the classroom with our students.
Today, by God’s grace, I serve as the director of Haywood Haven. My days are a blend of parent liaison, administrator, teacher support, and encourager-in-chief. You’ll still find me leading science labs, facilitating book club discussions, brewing tea for kiddos with scratchy throats, or joining a game of hide and seek on the playground.
This work is more than a role. It’s a calling. Each moment spent walking beside our students and families is a reminder that when we honor how God designed children to learn and grow, something extraordinary happens. Education becomes joyful again.
Our Full Story
For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” — Ephesians 2:10
Haywood Haven was born out of both calling and conviction.
When I began homeschooling my children in 2017, I was simply trying to follow where God was leading our family. What started as a personal step of obedience soon revealed a deeper purpose. As other families joined us around our kitchen table, I saw how much children flourish when education honors the way God made them—through curiosity, movement, creativity, and relationship.
By 2020, that small group became known as Thrive Club, a one-room-schoolhouse-style gathering built on faith, mastery, and joy. We saw firsthand that education could be different: gentle yet rigorous, structured yet flexible, centered on both truth and wonder.
In 2021, God opened new doors. Dellwood Baptist Church welcomed us into their building, giving our growing community space to expand. It was there that Haywood Haven took root, becoming a haven for children and parents alike who longed for something more than traditional school or solitary homeschooling.
By 2024, the program had outgrown its walls once again. God faithfully provided Providence Church, a beautiful facility filled with light, warmth, and room to grow. We now serve families across Haywood County and beyond, offering mastery-based education from a Christ-centered foundation through our nonprofit umbrella, Learning Havens Incorporated.
My own journey has been shaped by the truths of Ephesians 2:10 and Romans 12:2. God’s will has proven good and perfect, even through seasons of testing. Haywood Haven is the result of walking that path in faith, proof that when we let God transform our minds and direct our steps, His design unfolds in ways more beautiful than we could imagine.
Looking Ahead
The story of Haywood Haven is still being written.
As part of Learning Havens Incorporated, our vision reaches far beyond one campus. We believe God’s ultimate plan is to make this model available to other communities, places where families can experience the same peace, joy, and purpose that define Haywood Haven.
We envision Learning Havens springing up across the region and beyond, each one a safe, Christ-centered space where children grow in wisdom, families find partnership, and faith transforms education from the inside out.
If you believe your community could benefit from a program like this, we invite you to connect with us.