Matt Lauer Settles into His New Life, Hands-On Dad

Matt Lauer's punching in for his new gig ... picking up kids for his elementary school carpool.

Lauer was driving his 11-year-old son, Thijs, to school Monday morning, and also scooped up one of his kid's friends too. Coming off a $25 million/year gig at NBC ... we're guessing the disgraced news anchor is immediately in the running for world's richest school bus driver.

Interestingly, Lauer is still rocking his wedding ring ... as he was last week too.