Truth in Love Podcast Presents- Encompass Learning

Interview with Amy Fonseca’s Background and Ministry Roles

Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast. Tonight is another special podcast. We're having a Truth in Love interview. Tonight is going to be Encompass Learning with Amy Fonseca. Hope you'll stick around and join us.

Amy, how are you? I am great, Robert. How are you? I'm doing well. I'm excited to have you on the podcast and share with everybody about what God is doing in your life and the ministries that you're involved in and that you're going to be involved in.

And you also have some new, very special news that just happened and I'm excited for you to announce that here. So I'll let you do that when you tell us about yourself personally, your family, and also tell us about yourself professionally and then give us that big exciting news that you have.

Great, thank you. So like Robert said, I'm Dr. Amy Fonseca. The doctor is new. That's what he's hinting at. I am born and raised in Lincoln County. I have been an educator for the last 14 years. I am happily married to my husband Pablo.

We will celebrate our 13th year anniversary this year in a few months. I have two sons, Roman and Joseph, five years old and two years old, and we are waiting on a third blessing through an adoption placement.

So that's exciting. It's an exciting wait time. So professionally, I am an educator. I work with Lincoln County Schools currently. I'm an assistant principal. I recently finished my doctorate degree as of Tuesday.

So I've been Dr. Fonseca all of two days.

And you also work at a church. You work with the church, administering the church?

I do. So part-time, I work for my church, Venture Church. The main campus is in Dallas, but we also have a Lincolnton campus that meets on Sunday nights at the Cultural Center, and I am the Lincolnton campus's Children's Ministry.

Director. Fantastic. Well, I know that I know that my wife is proud of you, and I'm excited to meet a new doctor and have a doctor on the program. So it's fantastic news. The next thing that I want to ask you is about your, we talk about church, I want to ask you about your faith in Jesus Christ, how you were led to Christ, and how God saved you.

If you wouldn't mind sharing your.

Testimony of Coming to Christ and Leaving the Church

Testimony with us. Absolutely. So I grew up in the church in a very loose sense of saying that. My mom would drop me off at church on Sunday mornings at a Methodist Church down off of Buffalo Shoals Road, and I would join the Sunday school, sometimes I would stay for the sermon.

When I got into high school, I met a friend who was attending a local Church of God, and I began going to church with her. And that was a totally new experience. I had grown up going to Methodist and then went to Church of God through high school.

Totally different. I had a very hard reality check my senior year of high school. The youth group that I was a part of just kind of fell apart. And at that point in time, all of my faith was wrapped up in that youth group, in the relationships that I had.

I didn't have a solid understanding of what it meant to really be a Christian and what it meant to really have that relationship with Jesus. So I actually left the church from the time I was about 17 until early 2015.

So I left the church for around 10 years. And during that time, I tried being atheist. I call it my experimental period. Tried being atheist. I was still very much drawn to my spiritual side, to the point that I even took tons of college classes, tons of theology classes, let me specify, for the sole purpose of arguing against Christianity.

And I wouldn't change that journey one bit because if I wouldn't have questioned my why, why did I believe this or how did I get to this point, then my faith would definitely not be as strong as it is now.

My mom started using special holidays, Mother's Day, Christmas, that sort of thing, to kind of guilt trip me into going to church with her. And slowly but surely, God started to work on my heart again.

I never could. I was never settled. And then March 28, 2016, nothing special about that day. I had came home. My husband was in the shower. I don't remember anything else. I don't even remember what led to me saying the prayer.

But Jesus saved me there in that moment on March 28 in the evening, sitting in my bedroom. You know, it's a beautiful thing. And I think it was powerful. And from the moment that I was saved, I feel like I know that I'm one of God's children, a force to be reckoned with when it comes to that, because the devil has not stopped since.

So, yes, I'm very much a child of God and so, so, so blessed that he's chosen me.

Praise the Lord. I've had similar situations in my theological and belief journey where you grew up and were taught one thing and you held these certain beliefs and you studied and you dug in and you looked at these books, you wanted to prove and pick out the holes in it and then eventually converting and God changing your mind into these different beliefs.

And it's amazing how that process works and God works in your heart.

It is. The holes that I was always so adamant to point out are actually some of the strongest faith areas, strongest things that help prove the truth now. So it's interesting how it works.

Encompass Learning and the Need for Educational Support

Well, praise the Lord. So let's dive into the meat of what we wanted to talk about, which is this new venture that you are stepping into. It's my understanding that you are beginning this, you are starting this new venture, this new business, and it's called Encompass Learning.

So tell us a brief introduction of Encompass Learning and a little bit about your goals for Encompass Learning.

Yes. So, yes, Encompass Learning is a brand new venture that I'm taking on. It is a work of the heart. Literacy and education in general is just very, very important to me. It has been from a young age.

I was born of two very hardworking parents. I'm very proud to say this. My dad's no longer with me, but my dad was a man who did not finish the eighth grade. And that didn't stop him. He worked really hard.

He had his own company. He grew himself in other ways. He struggled with literacy. Now, he wasn't illiterate, but he did struggle with literacy. And I saw that as I was growing older. And it always kind of stuck with me how hard he had to work to kind of prove himself otherwise.

And so throughout my years of being an educator, that's been a real driving force for me, even in teaching first graders, second graders. You have those students for just a year, and what you do with them impacts the rest of their lives.

Since I've stepped out of the classroom, I'm not working as much directly with students, and that's definitely something I miss. But in growing in my faith, I've developed a lot of relationships outside of school with families who choose different pathways for education, whether that's homeschooling, private schooling, charter schools.

And I've seen a need, especially with homeschool families and with private school families, for a little more control over situations where their students have gaps and they're just not sure what to do.

So in the public school system and in most charter schools, we have what's called the MTSS framework, and it's a tiered framework that is preventative. It helps educators and stakeholders really hone in and target the gaps behaviorally, social, emotionally, academically early on, the key is early identification, to help close those gaps at a rate that the students don't fall behind.

And what I'm seeing is there's no one, there's no support for homeschool and private school families in this area. So if they start to see gaps in their child's learning, they're not sure what to do. So either they avoid it, and the child falls further behind, or they feel helpless, and they turn to avenues that they don't generally want to take, which is not healthy for their family.

And so my goal is to help stand in the gap, to help those parents decide what they need to do. If the parents need tutoring themselves, if the parents need coaching on how to teach their child, Encompass Learning can support them that way.

If they just, if they want to tutor, there's going to be resources there as well. So it's really to stand in the gap for parents when they just don't know what to do, because education doesn't just come naturally to everyone.

Yeah. And it seems like there's a lot of times a fear on both ends from from parents who are interested, have a desire, or are presently homeschooling. And then a lot of the stereotypes looking into homeschooling, well, you weren't trained.

Oh, I wasn't trained. And you're having doubts, you're having, you know, concerns. How am I going to educate my child when I'm not being trained like a public school educator? And so that sounds like something that you want to follow in this territory with you and the help that you can get.

Well, and and the way the world is going now, people are homeschooling regardless. The amount of families who are homeschooling has grown exponentially over the last 10 years. My numbers may be a little off, but I believe around 10 years ago, roughly 1 .7 million children were being homeschooled in the United States.

And that number has grown to over 20 million in just 10 years, North Carolina being the leading state for homeschooling. And, you know, in complete transparency, 10 years ago, I would have had a negative viewpoint on homeschooling.

But I have met so many families that their heart is in the right place. And they're, they're really trying hard to be able to give their kids exactly what they need. And what they, in setting the standard, how they feel like it should be set, and I feel like they should have that control.

And I really battled with that because I have worked with the public school system for so long. And I love the public school system that my heart's there. But I think as an educator, I truly believe God is leading me to not, to not narrow down who we support.

If parents choose to homeschool or send their children to a private school, I would like to be support there to help them still have that control over the setting of their child's education, and the child not fall behind because of that.

And I think you can you can disagree with me. But I would think we would say that God can equip. God can equip. He can equip those who desire to do it. And he can send tools.

Absolutely. I just want to be a tool.

That's right. That's right. So anything else? We kind of bled over into this. The second question. Anything else that you would like to say about how is this a preventative approach? Or what is the preventative approach look like from an encompassed learning perspective?

So the preventative approach that encompassed learning is going to focus on is, are there gaps? Can we target what those gaps are? And which avenue are the parents comfortable taking to help close those gaps?

So would they like coaching on how to teach their child phonological awareness? Or would they like someone else in the form of a tutor to do that? So there's there's lots of different avenues.

Gotcha. I'm going to try not to throw you off and ask you things that are not on here. But as you talk, of course, questions are coming to mind. And so one of the first questions that come to my mind when you're talking about this is, so we're talking about preventative approach to learning.

We're talking about educating children and holes, gaps, all those things that we potentially see in the education of a child. So by what standard, if you're, you're inevitably saying that there's, there's a standard that you're looking at that, that they should be at, what standard are you are you looking at to say, oh, there's a gap here, there, we need to seek some preventative tools here.

Because we're looking at this standard.

And that is a tricky question, because everyone has their own viewpoint on and that's, that's the reason a lot of parents homeschool is because of the standard that is set in the public schools. But there's a lot of science behind that as well.

There's a lot of science behind how the brain develops, and when things are developmentally appropriate. So my belief is that students do develop at their own rate. So by the time a child is seven, eight years old, they should have strong phonological awareness, they should have strong number sense.

There are milestones developmentally, developmentally that they should have hit with literacy and with number sense, just like they should have hit milestones with their speech or their motor skills. And so I really look at the science behind that there's a large body of research called the science of reading.

It's 50 years worth of reading research. And it really goes into how our brains work to learn how to read and write. So that's part of what I would look at and really looking at those standards on when, when children should learn things.

Now, if a child is 10 year old, 10 years old, and they haven't mastered that, that would be a large gap. If a child is six, and they haven't mastered phonological awareness, that's that's a different story.

They they may just be developing at a different rate. But it could be lack of exposure too, because parents, parents don't always know what they don't know. And there's nothing wrong with that. Because like you said, God can equip and God can provide tools.

And I feel like my calling is to be one of those tools.

Right, right. And so with a having a standard in mind, the flip side of that, which would be an advantage to encompass learning and approaching the homeschool as a person to the private schools, charter schools, when you're in a larger classroom setting, you don't always get to take into consideration the individual child.

And so you have your standard, but on the flip side, you have your individual child and their their abilities, their some are more geared toward math, some are more geared toward science. And so it seems like you, there's an advantage here to encompass learning where you can also take advantage or look at those individual needs.

There would be very individualized plans of curriculum and instruction to help support those students.

Parents, Accountability, and Practical Services

It's fantastic. So in your opinion, why do parents need to take control of their children's education?

For far too long, responsibility for children's education has been placed solely on the public school system. Now, don't get me wrong, our public school system, especially here in Lincoln County, it is fantastic.

The educators are the stakeholders with Lincoln County schools. They work tirelessly, which, you know, they work very hard and they are fantastic. But parent involvement, parent involvement is a shortcoming to a child's education and creates obstacles that educators can't always overcome.

And so when I say that parents need to take control of their education, whether their child is in public school, home school, private school or charter school, a parent needs to be involved. I firmly believe that at any point in time, a parent should be able to answer where their child is academically.

What does their child need to work on? They should be aware of what the gaps are. They should be reading with their child regularly. They should be counting, going down the road, orally doing math problems.

There should be involvement there, just like there is everywhere else in life. Parents are the first teachers that a child has. From the moment a child is born, parents are teaching their kids. They're teaching them how to walk.

They're teaching them how to make sounds, how to eat with a spoon. Just because they start kindergarten does not mean that responsibility stops. And so some parents understand that, and some parents want to take control of their child's education in the form of homeschooling.

And I think they should be able to do that if that is what works best for their family and they're willing to put in the work and investigate the best pathways for their kid or children.

So I'm sure this is going to be one of the highlights of your career now, of course, and in your career to come. But practically, what will you be doing with the child and the child gets it? And what's involved in encompassed learning where it's going to promote confidence and love for learning in a child?

And then you see the light bulb come on and their eyes open wide. How do you see that working?

Everyone loves to learn new things. When someone comes up against an obstacle that they're not sure how to overcome, by human nature, we automatically put up an emotional roadblock to that most of the time.

And it's no different with a child, except a child is not necessarily equipped with the tools to overcome that on their own. If we're speaking instructional best practices, targeted instruction that helps focus on whatever goal I set with the parents.

So when a parent contacts me, they may tell me, they may tell me, OK, Sally, I believe she has she's having trouble with double digit addition with regrouping. OK, that's that's a common obstacle that kids face in a lot of ways, and it's easy through a series of diagnostic assessments of screeners to assess where exactly the gap may lie and assess that, target it and develop a plan.

So generally, when you develop a plan, you run that intervention for six to eight weeks and you use the data to drive to drive your plan. Is it working? Do we need to try something different? And generally, when a student can get targeted instruction with fidelity, what they need, when they need it, you're going to see that growth and you're going to see it quickly.

And I imagine one on one with the intensity that we would be able to do it through encompassed learning, it would happen fairly quickly. Think about a rope. There's something called Scarborough's reading rope, and I apply this in a lot of different areas in my life.

But when you think about how a rope starts to come undone, if one area of the rope is frayed, it unravels the whole thing. You can have a child who is reading fluently. And you think, wow, they are a fantastic reader, but if there's this one gap in a foundational skill that they skipped, eventually it's going to cause that rope to unravel.

So it's really important that proficiency in all of the base skills are met. So really targeting that, honing in and helping guide parents in understanding the components that build those foundational skills.

So basically, the stronger they feel, the more excited they're going to be.

They are. They love to be successful. Kids love to make themselves proud. They love to make their parents proud. They want to be able to do those things. Now, when confidence starts becoming an issue, that's where kids start to struggle even more, because when their confidence starts to waver, they start to look at, well, I'm not good enough.

My parents aren't feeling like I'm doing this right. There's so much that goes into that. And you add peer pressure on top of that and 20 other kids in the classroom. And it adds to it. And it can be so damaging.

So hoping to negate that as much as possible.

Right, right. And and Ty, strengthen up those phrase, make that rope strong. Praise the Lord. So in these are some of the services that you're going to provide. So in layman's terms, for somebody like me who doesn't speak educational lingo and doesn't maybe understand all the words that you're using tonight.

Academic diagnostics and problem solving, explain that in layman's terms.

So a parent comes to me and a parent says, I don't know what's wrong. I know we're behind, but that's all I know. I've maybe I've dropped the ball. Maybe we haven't done what we need to do. Help me figure out where we're at.

So that is when I would run a full gambit of diagnostic to see exactly where their child lands in reading and math specifically. And then we would go from there.

About parent coaching, what do you mean by that?

So you figure out where the issue is, we figure out where the gap is, where the student struggling. Maybe the parent doesn't want tutoring. Maybe the parent wants to still do it themselves, but they don't feel equipped to teach their child.

They've tried it one way. They've tried it two ways and their child's still not getting it. We would help coach the parent in other methods for best instructional practices to give them that power to put that power back in their hand to be able to teach their child.

Academic advising. So when we're looking at academic advising, advising, especially in the homeschool setting, students grow at different rates in all areas. So I know one student, for instance, at my church who in reading and he's he's 10 in reading, he's in a high school level.

But in math, he's exactly where he should be. So they're in they're in different areas. So when you start to when you're 10 years old and you're reading at a high school level fluency wise, the comprehension may not necessarily be there.

So sometimes parents, they don't want to get a book that is too simple for them to read. But then when they get the books that are the level that it says they should be, for instance, then the comprehension is just not developmentally appropriate.

So when it comes to academic coaching, looking at the curriculum that the parents are using and help them match that with the child's abilities.

OK, this is a pretty familiar word, but tutoring, what does that look like from the encompass learning perspective?

So from from the encompass learning perspective, I am wanting to empower other educators to use the strength that strength that they have and the leadership skills that they have to work with these students.

So it will not solely be me. There's there's our community has a set of powerful educators that have really honed their skill and their high quality in what they do. And the goal with encompass learning is to help those educators find avenues to fulfill their calling to an even greater extent.

And then the last one you gave me to look at was curricular planning.

So curricular planning is a lot like the academic advising. Some families do not use a specific curriculum. They copy and paste from different areas. And sometimes that can be great, but sometimes that can leave gaps in the curriculum of those foundational skills, of those parts of the rope that the child will need.

And the parents just kind of they accidentally skip over that. So I'm actually a licensed curriculum and instruction specialist. So that's one of the things that that's one of my strengths is being able to look at a curriculum and help people figure out the places, the gaps in that curriculum.

So coaching parents through that as well.

Gaps in Education and Serving Adults Too

Yeah, I think you've been answering these other questions, of course, it bleeds in all these others. And you you've touched on on this question, but and I'm sure that you wouldn't be taking this different avenue if you didn't see a need.

And so what gaps are you seeing? How can Encompass Learning fulfill those gaps, resolve these issues? Why are you going about this this avenue with Encompass Learning?

So in America, there's a large I can't tell you the exact number, but there's a large number of adults who are functionally illiterate and do not have the mathematical skills to to fully have access to the opportunities in our society to be full participating members of our society.

And public schools can't do that all on their own. It is it takes a village. It's a community effort. And when you have that gift of teaching, then much like preaching, I think when when you're called to do that, you're going to do that to the best of your ability.

And it's not limited to one school building or just one area of your community. You should you should reach out and do that to the best of your ability. And so gaps in education for all ages is really what drives me.

And if a 24 year old were to come to me and say, OK, my reading is not as strong as I want it to be, Encompass Learning would totally help with that. So the gap, the gap is not just with students. The gap that Encompass Learning strives to stand in is the gap.

That any human would have academically and help them fulfill that so they can live their life to the greatest potential and so that they can fulfill their true calling.

So your heart is not just for for children, your heart is for everybody, you're not just trying to help children get read on a certain grade level, your heart is for adults as.

Well. I would really like to grow Encompass Learning to encompass everyone. I would eventually like to grow it into. I would like to have a branch that is more of a prison ministry that focuses on the academics.

I would like to have a branch that works with English language learners, anyone that, you know, that confidence, that word confidence, you can have a lack of that at any age. I'm going to tear up because I'm so passionate about this.

If you can equip someone with the ability to read fluently and do that with confidence, you change their life. How many people in this world do not pick up the Bible because they're afraid they're not going to understand it?

And if I can do if I can teach one person one thing that helps close a gap that helps raise their confidence enough that maybe they will pick up that Bible or maybe they will pick up a children's book to read to their own child.

And it just starts it starts a whole domino effect. It's just it it's all encompassing.

Christians have been educators for centuries. We we've wanted to have the Bible in our own language. We wanted to be able to read it for ourselves. We've wanted to teach our children and we've taught our children with the Bible.

Even in early America, we use the Bible as and taught the Bible and. Christians have been educators for a long time, and you're following in the footsteps of great men and women who who are believers, who are educating children and men and women, and we want to praise the Lord for that.

Calling, Discernment, and Stepping Out in Faith

So so thank you for that. This next one is. To me, it's a difficult question. It's a hard question. Because many people struggle with it, but they probably don't talk about it. I'm sure they well, I know I'm pretty confident that you had to struggle with this.

Your calling. Because you've got to take into consideration the job that you have, you've got to take into consideration your family. All these things that you have to take into consideration and you you're going to uproot all that and change your career.

So tell us a little about a little bit about how you. Dealt with that calling and and battled with that, prayed about that and come to the conclusion about making a change in your life and then maybe encourage someone else who is is dealing with calling about struggling with where they are, but it's it's not fulfilling because they don't feel like it's really where God would have them to be.

Maybe a word of encouragement to them.

About a year ago. God started dealing with my heart. I'm a very busy person. I became known as being a busy person. And I have two small children and until Tuesday, I was still a grad student. My husband and I run a small business that I inherited from my father and we're waiting on another adoption.

So there's just there's so many irons in the fire and I work for my church. So many irons in the fire and about a year ago, God really started dealing with me and I started feeling less fulfilled. I started feeling like, OK, I'm not comfortable in my skin.

I'm not comfortable where I'm at, which was very strange because anyone who's known me for the last 15 years knows how passionate I had been about my career. And so I really started praying about this and praying about, OK, if my purpose is changing, God, I need you to really be loud and clear here because my nature is to fight against it.

Never once in my life have I, other than with adoption, I can't think of another time in my life that God has really asked me to completely step out blindly in faith. And over the last year, things have just lined up in our personal lives that have really made it clear that I was going to that God was asking me to step down from my career.

At one point, I feel like he very clearly told me, OK, you have made this career your identity and that is where you went wrong because that is not your identity. Your identity is in Christ. And from that moment forward, I just started praying for discernment.

I started praying daily for discernment. Show me what you want me to do. Everything has lined up to show me that taking a step back from my career that I love so terribly much is the right thing to do for my family.

It's the right thing to do for my boys. But he also laid it on my heart, OK, that doesn't mean that your story's over as an educator. The church position wasn't something that I had sought after. It found me and I was going to do it temporarily.

But it has totally filled my bucket as an educator and as a leader to help others in the church serve and serve in our children's ministry. I've never done anything in ministry until last June when I started this position.

And it's a whole new world. It's a scary world. There's a lot of pressure that I put on myself there. But God has really helped me see it through. And so as of the end of this school year, I will be stepping down as assistant principal for the school system.

When I do go back in the future, it will be in the classroom. I'm definitely an educator at heart. I have to have to be with the kids. But in the meantime, I'm going to see where where Encompass Learning goes and where God takes me with Encompass Learning and in this season of stepping out in blind faith, because this is this is not me.

I feel like I'm on a ride that I'm not controlling at all, which I think all humans can probably agree with this. Not feeling in control can be scary. But in this situation, I know who's in control and I have full faith that he's going to work it out for my good.

Yeah, you caused me to think about a verse, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct the path. It reminds me a lot of that verse.

There's a verse that our pastor has been preaching through First Samuel, and there is a verse that I had read through First Samuel several times over the last few months. And then the other night I was I was reading through it and something else just kind of stood out to me.

And it's completely out of context, but it was one of those moments where I feel like God was like, OK, there's another point of discernment for you. And it's First Samuel 12, 16. Now, therefore, stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.

And I feel like he was very clearly just saying, all right, step back, just watch what I can do. Just just step back and watch. So, yes, it's it's really exciting and really scary. But to know that I'm I'm I'm in God's will is a very fulfilling, fulfilling thing.

And so I would I would ask anyone who's unsure about anything. Pray, pray. If you feel like God is pushing you towards something, you have to have that conversation with him. Don't listen to the world because you can very, very easily be influenced one way or the other by the world.

But you have to spend time in prayer, have to spend time with him, quiet time, good quality, intentional time listening as well to really know what he wants from you and what he wants you to do. And when you do that, it's it's freeing and it's fantastic.

Honoring Christ, Making Disciples, and Contact Information

Yeah. So here's my last question for you, and we can we can educate people, but they're still ultimately, you know, an after a God that we have to face. And so as a believer, as a Christian, these two questions at the end aren't an either or you can answer them, whichever one best fits your direction.

But how does this endeavor with encompass learning, how do you see it growing the kingdom or. How do you feel like you're going to be honoring Christ in this endeavor, in this.

Ministry? Sure, so my goal as a Christian, Jesus, he tells us very plainly, go out and make disciples, tell everyone about me. And one way that I truly believe we're called to do that is through love and to show, I call it the Christlike light.

You've probably met someone along the way. I feel like you are one of these people that I'm about to talk about that when you meet someone and you see the light of Christ just in their actions, in their words, in how they carry themselves and how they handle themselves and how they conduct business.

In their servant heart, in the way that they serve others. And I think that is the key to how encompass learning can help minister to the lost is by serving them, find a need, meet them where they are and serve that need, help them, help them grow, have those conversations, build the relationships.

That is what's going to leave a lasting impression on them. And I just pray that when when it's over, they see Christ and maybe it just gives them that little bit of, OK, maybe this is something I'm I'm interested in or I've got questions and I hope with encompass learning we can help with that.

So the exciting part, if somebody is interested, do you have a way for them to contact you and get in touch with you, find out more about encompass learning?

So I do. So we have a Facebook page, which is encompass learning, and there is a Google form link on the Facebook page where people who are interested or have more questions can contact me through the Google link.

They can also email me. My email address is on there and I can. Actually my phone number for encompass learning is 704 -622 -1338 and we are free to take your calls Monday through Friday.

Fantastic. Praise the Lord. So, Dr. Fonseca, I'm very thankful that you are willing to to come on here and do this. I think this is exciting. I think this is what God would have in his world instead of the separation that we brought between ourselves.