"Also, while there are a lot of sites with incorrect facts and info, there are many, many reputable journals, articles, papers, etc. online that are first-rate sources. There are plenty of print sources that are made available on the web that would be difficult to track down in hard copy, and lots of schools subscribe to services that make them available. My high school had subscriptions to services like JSTOR, which provides free scans of hundreds of academic print journals that were far more priceless for research than generic books I might have found at the library."
Yes, but how many students will use all those resources? If you are in AP or in post-secondary, perhaps, but as I recall from my schooldays back in the dark ages (pre-computer
) most times we only did enough 'research' to answer the bare-bones question as quickly as possible to the minimum required by that particular teacher.. We certainly didn't go looking for trouble in the form of additional information. "Get in, get it done, get out" was our battle-cry.
As for blogging, (I have no kids, so this is pure theory) I'd take a hard look at your child, is he the kind of kid who blurts things out to strangers in 'real life'? Chats cheerfully with strangers? Trusts? Then I'd watch everything he does on-line. What are your objectives for this blogging? Will random blogging help his writing, or just teach him to key faster? Writing stories will probably help structure and word choice more than blurting out his passing thoughts.