Blog Safety

So I thought that as long as I did not use my last name or the city I lived in, then I would be keeping my family safe enough on this blog. But then today I was reading some other homeschool blogs and came across a post on blog safety. Which made me realize that I should consider not using our full names, just initials, and that we might not want to post front facing pictures of our faces. Also we should consider adding watermarks to our images to keep others from copying them and passing them off as their own. Additionally some people may want to copyright their blog and material so it cannot be used by others.

I know how serious internet safety is, and I have always had a fear of perpetrators who use the internet to exploit and harm children. But I never thought I might be doing something that put my family at risk. So today I went through all my posts, it wasn't hard considering there are all but, like 5...and changed the names to initials.

But I am kinda sad at the same time, because I wanted to use this blog as a place to share a little slice of our lives as a homeschooling Christ-centered family. I wanted to make it personal by using our names and using pictures of us, especially JD, as we learn and grow together. As we do fun science experiments and nature walks. And now I feel like I've been scared into hiding. But safety first my dear, correct?? It makes me mad that a very few jerkwads have to ruin it for the rest of us majority of good decent people.