I have had the chance to work with the Time Timer on my iPad over the last little bit... and it leaves me kind of torn. I was excited to get this product as I've been hoping to get a little more time management in (all I really want to do these days is sleep, so I was trying to get something to motivate me a bit more to give proper time to different activities beyond "mommy needs to lay down a minute."). Anyway! I ended up on the list for the iPad Time Timer so instead of a physical device that I could carry around and put places I ended up having a neat product on my iPad that unfortunately didn't get patronized a whole lot because it's not as practical to set up around the house when you have a plethora of small children.
I LOVE the concept of this product, especially for special needs or young children. The program allows you to set up to 4 timers at a time and you can make them different colors, have different display faces, and have them make different sounds to signal that time is up (my favorite is the applause sound... who needs a startling beep to tell you time is up when you can have people clapping for a job well done?) The timers are super simple to set, and they continue running even when you're trying to leave an application... however, that doesn't really help the whole concept that you're using this tool to give your child a visual on how much time is left. I think that was a problem for us as well. We use the iPad for other functions throughout the day, and so having it just sit with a child(ren) during their activity wasn't terribly practical for us. The other problem is that if you are not in the application as the timer is running that it will not notify you when the time is over. However, again, one of the perks to this product is being able to see the time that is being used, so if you're not in the app then it kind of defeats the purpose anyway.
I can see this product being of better us if you are not using other applications on you iPad device during the day, if your homeschool day consists mostly of being in one location or in locations that allow you to prop up the device so your child(ren) can see the timer (the little cover stand on mine wasn't doing it for us), and/or if your children are older.
The Time Timer for iPad can be purchased through the App store for $1.99.
To see what other crew members are saying about the Time Timer (both for the iPad and for a stand alone device), feel free to go here.
*As a member of the 2011 TOS Homeschool Crew I was provided a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review of its content. I have not received any other compensation for the opinions stated here, and they were not promised a positive review.*
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