Right.. first things first... (well durr!)
How are you connecting your camera?
We'll assume its an S-Video Lead (Yellow Phono Plug, possibly with a Red and a White as well)...
In which case next question... Where are you connecting it to?
Assuming the above is true, I'd say either three holes (Yellow, Red, White) or an equivalent in a Scart adaptor..
If you connect this directly to your TV then you're bypassing your VHS. You need to connect these leads to your Video directly, then select the AV channel on your Video to record.
So you can see the video on your TV you can put the TV on the VHS channel...