Meet our
leadership team.

Dezi Scacewater

Dezi is the mother of four beautiful children—Noah, Zane, Joel, and Anya—and has been homeschooling for the past six years. She and her husband serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators at Dallas International University, where they share a deep desire to see all God’s children know Him as the source of life and truth. Fontes grew out of this same desire: that through the work of education, we will ultimately be led to God as the source of all wisdom and knowledge. Dezi is passionate about coming alongside families, educators, and fellow leaders to learn, collaborate, and build community as we educate our children. This vision of shared learning and community is central to her work at Fontes. With more than 14 years of experience working with children, Dezi is passionate about seeing young people grow, flourish, and discover the gifts God has given them. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music with a minor in Business Administration and has five years of experience in nonprofit business administration, along with more than ten years of ministry experience. At Fontes, Dezi teaches Artist/Composer Study, Plutarch, and Handicrafts. She is especially excited about the way her work at Fontes brings together her love of music, children, education, and spiritual formation within a community of like-minded leaders. In her spare time, you might find Dezi singing, crafting, cooking, hiking, or attempting to play pickleball with her kids. She loves learning alongside her family and is grateful for every opportunity to help cultivate a community where children can grow in wisdom, wonder, and love of God.

Sarah Forster

Tami VanOpstal

Dayla Thomson

Dayla serves our community by leading Spanish language learning and its integration into our curriculum and shared life. She and her husband are raising and launching five children, ages 10–20, through foster care and adoption, homeschooling from the very beginning and graduating their oldest two from high school. Their educational vision is rooted in deep faith, intentional discipleship, and a willingness to enter the arena of family life and education. Rather than standing as critics on the sidelines, they are imperfect, devoted parents who are willing to strive, learn, fail, begin again, and spend themselves in a worthy cause. Their desire has never been to shelter their children from difficulty, but to raise the next Daniels and Esthers: children who will stand boldly before the leaders of nations, speak with frankness to the heart of the matter, win hearts with grace, pivot when God calls them to, and lead their generation back to Him. Dayla brings over two decades of teaching and leadership experience: ten years as a Classical Conversations Foundations and Essentials tutor, dual-credit writing and grammar instruction with the Institute for Excellence in Writing, and current service on the Board of DasCHE. Her leadership extends beyond the classroom. She spent nine years as a counselor and program director for LifeChoices Health Network in Joplin, Missouri, overseeing an abstinence education program that served 22 school districts and impacted students from fourth through twelfth grade, and three years as Assistant to the Director for Christ In Youth’s National Youth Leaders Convention. For years, Dayla followed the “crumbs” of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy. Through this community, those crumbs have become a feast, bringing growth not only in educational practice, but in the beauty of life together as the Body of Christ. Practically crunchy in her approach to natural, healthy living, Dayla is a serial entrepreneur with a gift for turning ambitious vision into attainable systems. She finds joy in adventuring with her children, the call of the mountains, deep theology, Emma M. Lion, and strong black coffee. ¡Juntos es mejor! We are better together.