Who We Are at Murphy-Cates Learning Center and Academy
What We Do
The Murphy-Cates Learning Center was founded in 1997 as a tutoring service for children and adults. The center continues to deliver tutoring services in academic subjects today but has expanded to include individual educational consultation services and full-time classes for middle grades and high school students. One of the goals of MCLCA is to make sure students understand what they are doing and learning in the classroom so they can apply their learning in other areas. A creative approach is taken to tutoring and instruction and students experience success not only in their identified weak areas but also find greater success in other areas.
The Murphy-Cates Learning Center and Academy has expanded offerings from a tutoring service with a full-time school, Faith Christian Academy, which provides a special, individualized learning environment to students in grades K-12. Faith Christian Academy also serves as an “umbrella school” or “ Church-Related School” (CRS) for home-school families of Tennessee.
Murphy-Cates Learning Center and Academy partners with parents from all across the country to assist them in understanding the fine points and implications of the diagnostic educational evaluations administered by Dr. Paul Cates. Mrs. Murphy works one-on-one in tutoring parents to help them understand their children’s special educational needs and how to implement educational plans to boost learning.
Our Founder – Brenda Murphy
Brenda Murphy founded the Murphy-Cates Learning Center and Academy in 1997 in Roane County, Tennessee near Knoxville. Prior to that, Brenda home-schooled her five sons and in the process, discovered that individual instruction was the best way for children to learn and achieve. She soon found that other home-school parents struggled with teaching language arts to their own children and there was a demand for support in the delivery of education and instruction to home-schooled children. The identification of this need spurred Brenda to found the Murphy-Cates Learning Center and Academy as a tutoring service. Shortly after the opening of the center, the imminent educator and researcher Dr. Paul Cates teamed up with Brenda and her staff to blend his educational philosophies with Brenda’s individualized educational approaches.
Brenda Murphy holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Carolina and an MBA from Lamar University. She is an experienced author, teacher, and public speaker. She has published her unique approach to language arts in a curriculum called the Sail Away Learning System that is used in public, private and home-schools across the nation. The Sail Away Learning System is a pre-K through 12, highly successful, results-motivated reading program that simultaneously teaches phonics, spelling, penmanship, grammar, composition, vocabulary development, analogies, and oral expression.
Brenda was the first person invited to address the growing needs of the home-school market at the 54th Christian Booksellers Association International Conference in Orlando, Florida. She has been a featured speaker at the annual conference of Tennessee Association of Non-Public Academic Schools and the Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children.
Brenda’s greatest accomplishments are her five sons, all of whom she home-schooled. They are Matthew, Nathan, John David, Sean Michael, and Bo.
Our Staff
Mary Henthorne Pennington
Mary Pennington holds a Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies from Tennessee Technological University where she graduated with honors. She is a certified teacher in the state of Tennessee and was awarded the Woman of Achievement Award at the Women in Leadership Conference in 1996.
Mary uses a variety of teaching methods to address different learning styles and needs. She is particularly skilled in application of hands-on learning techniques and assisting students in seeing life-applications of concepts. Her goals are to help students achieve, learn, and succeed in all academic areas.
Gary S. Mathis
Gary Mathis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Carson-Newman College and a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision from Tennessee Technological University. Gary brings over twenty years’ experience in the classroom to Murphy-Cates and has taught in private, public, and individual settings at secondary and college levels.