As you walk into Tatiana Buckner’s home-turned-daycare, trees run up the freshly painted walls and wall decals with letters and numbers fill the space with warmth and light. The name, Elijah’s Tree House, is in honor of Buckner’s first son, who was stillborn.
With the help of Wonderschool, a state-sponsored program designed to help individuals start home-based childcare facilities, Buckner, of Florissant, was able to achieve her dream and open a daycare center to provide childcare for her community.
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When Buckner was in preschool, her teacher Marva Collins would watch her play pretend school, bossing the older kids around and telling the teacher what activities to do next.
“I really just love kids,” Buckner explains. “That’s my passion, I’m silly like them, I can play like them, I love their inquisitiveness and the joy that they bring to life.”
From those preschool days, Buckner knew she wanted to work with kids in some way, and in raising two of her own, she’s learned everything about taking care of little ones. Buckner initially studied early childhood education in college, but wound up working in customer service to provide for her family. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she wrote and self-published her own children’s book, Ellie Returns to School.
She found herself thinking about working with kids again after a dispiriting experience looking for a spot for her two-year-old to attend daycare. The family’s initial choice proved a disappointment.
“Children are our most prized possession, no matter what, But there are times where us, mommies and daddies and parents, we go through troubling times, and now we have a kiddo that we have to send out into this world so small,” Buckner says.
This pushed Buckner to pursue her passion of opening her own daycare facility.
“My gift is to love and to care for kids. It’s missing out here in the world; life is so tough. Parents have so much on their plates. To know my kid is in a trusted place, a place where I feel like they’re comfortable, as a parent I can do my thing, focus on what I need to do to provide for my family on the daily and whatever is after it, just showed me that I need to be here,” Buckner says. “Even if I’m in this little bitty town, I know I’m not making a big difference, but I’m gonna make some difference.”
She did some research about getting licensed with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and found out her first step was attending an orientation. But then. What comes next? Funding. Turning a home into a daycare takes time and money, and doing it alongside supporting a family was a struggle.
One phone call from Wonderschool changed everything. The organization called her and asked, “Are you ready to open up your daycare?”
“If I wouldn’t have gotten that phone call, I would still be working from home in my basement on the phone with customers, feeling like my life was still not complete,” Buckner says.
A technology and business support platform, Wonderschool aims to help providers found daycare centers to eliminate childcare deserts in their community. Last year, 97 percent of Missouri’s 115 counties were designated as child care deserts—areas where there are more than three children per every one childcare slot, or no slots at all. Wonderschool works directly with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to help would-be providers get started.
Wonderschool helps with the technology aspect of the business: A website, marketing and even the financial aspect of a daycare, your Wonderschool coach can help with, all for free. It also had a professional photographer come in and take photos of Buckner, and found grants to help pay for her state license. But the biggest blessing for Buckner came after an inspector told her she needed smoke detectors and sprinklers wired throughout the whole house, a job that would cost as much as $4,000.
Buckner was distraught. But her Wonderschool advisor found a way to pay for the entire cost through grants.
“I literally cried because I just couldn’t believe there was just someone out there to truly help me complete this journey of what I’ve been on for forever,” Buckner says.
The cost of early childhood education—and the dearth of providers—has become a big issue in Missouri. Ninety of the state’s 114 counties have been classified as childcare deserts, with just one spot for every three children. In 2023, the state contracted with Wonderschool, with its mandate to help recruit child care providers, specifically family home providers in child care deserts, become licensed. Its spokesperson says it has now helped more than 300 providers in the state. The national organization helps coach providers in 47 states, and works directly with state departments in 11 states.
Asked about the partnership, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says, “Wonderschool had experience in helping other states increase access to child care so, in collaboration with the Governor’s office, DESE entered into an agreement with Wonderschool to increase access to child care across Missouri.” It says it plans to put out another bid for such services in 2025 and will select the best candidate to “help increase access and stabilize early education providers in Missouri.”
As for the Elijah Tree House, it is currently open for business, and is looking for new children, ages 1–9, but Buckner is mainly focusing on preschool-aged children from ages 1-4. She is developing a learning curriculum where kids can be prepared to enter school with skills like using scissors, tying shoes and learning letters and numbers.
“I love that name Wonderschool, because they really did wonders,” Buckner says.
