How to use a blog in the classroom

Today I went surfing or blogging, which both sound like a lot of physical activity. The only activity involved was to let my fingers do the walking. I came up with some great ideas for a classroom blog. I teach history, so I thought that a current event news article about one of the civilizations that we studied, preferably the one we are "currently" studying would be great. I would have the students tie the article to our society, the past civilization and write any questions or comments about the article. The parents would be invited to respond to the article. A biweekly article would be a great way to bring history from the past into the present, not to mention getting parents involved in the learning. I would also have a requirement that each student must respond to a minimum of one student. Each student would be assigned a buddy.
Another way to use the blog would be to post a primary source and have the students analyze and respond to each other on the source. Again, parents are encouraged to participate. Students will learn how to create reponses and how to properly respond to others, share their ideas with the world, and use critical thinking skills.
When I was looking through other blog sites, I found a site that had 10 ways to use blogs in the classroom. I noticed that our new internet grading system called School Loop has already allowed a lot more communication, including assigning group discussions, class newsletter, post assignments. I have some studying to do with this new technology. The teachers were only trained for 1 hour prior to using School Loop, just like blog sites. I did see some rubrics for blogs, so the actual grading is not illusive, but I teach 187 students, and I wonder how do you efficiently check all blogs. I must admit this seems quite daunting.