Update - In addition to posting this question here, I checked with some friends in education and was given the following suggestions that I thought I'd share:
Edublogs (
http://www.edublogs.org/) - Based on Wordpress format, I found it to be too complicated for a young child but it does have lots of features.
Weebly -
http://www.weebly.com/ lets you create a website and blog
Zoobah
http://www.zoobuh.com/ provides e-mail and blog ($1/month I think) - not bad but I could not get the blog to work
We ended up going with Blogger. I think I have it locked down from major search engines and am able to invite specific family/friends to read. I have it set for all posts and comments to be e-mailed immediately to me so I can monitor/supervise. I like it because it is free and there are no ads that can lure him.
