DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705040049

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   62 lines

PARENTS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY AT HOME WITH HOME-SCHOOLING A GATHERING IN VIRGINIA BEACH OFFERS THEM IDEAS, RESOURCES AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

This is the question Donna Webb always used to hear six years ago when she told people she taught her three children at home:

``Is that legal?''

Now most people know home-schooling is both legal and a growing movement in Hampton Roads and across the country.

``People don't think it's so strange any more,'' Webb said.

Webb was one of about 400 people who attended the Third Annual Home Educator's Conference Saturday at the Virginia Beach Central Library.

The conference, which alternates each year between Chesapeake and Virginia Beach libraries, drew twice as many people as the first year and filled registration to capacity.

While some participants, like Webb, were already home-schooling and looking for new ideas, others were there because they want to start home-schooling in the fall.

The reasons vary: desire for a religion-based education, concerns about the high cost of private schools, worries about safety and quality of public schools.

Chesapeake resident Wendy Latham wants to start home-schooling her seventh-grade daughter.

``I don't feel she's getting adequate attention,'' Latham said. ``She's more interested in socializing than making sure she studies.''

Another mother, Laurie Beasley of Norfolk, said she and her husband send their three children - ages 6, 11 and 14 - to Norfolk Christian School, which they like. But the cost - $15,000 a year - is making them consider the home-school option, especially since Beasley will have her fourth child in September.

``It's very scary,'' she said. ``Especially thinking about starting home-schooling the same year as having a baby. But it's encouraging to see so many people here who are interested.''

Yet another mother, Terri Hewitt, was exploring home education because she felt her 9-year-old son wasn't challenged enough in Virginia Beach public schools. ``He's a smart kid, and I don't feel like he's learning everything he could be.''

Saturday's conference provided parents with tips on how to get started, where to find resources, how to network with other parents to widen children's educational experiences.

Exhibitors from places like the Virginia Zoo, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and the Virginia Living Museum were also on hand to show parents how to supplement their at-home educations.

Besides giving home-schoolers a chance to share ideas, the speakers at Saturday's sessions offered an ample dose of encouragement.

``How many of you are scared and nervous about doing this?'' asked home-schooler and conference speaker Deb Plaster.

Almost everyone in the room raised a hand.

``I'd be worried if you weren't,'' she said.

Plaster told them there would be times, especially during their first year of home-schooling, when they'd get discouraged. ``You'll feel like putting your children on a bus, any bus,'' she said.

But she said the rewards - if they stuck with their decision - would be in seeing their children develop values and character and in crafting an education that best meets the needs of each child. KEYWORDS: HOME SCHOOLING

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