Have you tried getting them to school in time in the mornings?
Have you had to go to work before the kids went to school, and worried all the way to work, wether they would get there in time or not?
http://www.opentechguides.com/how-to/article/raspberry-pi/5/raspberry-pi-auto-start.html
https://learn.adafruit.com/pi-video-output-using-pygame/pointing-pygame-to-the-framebuffer
setterm -blank 0 -powerdown 0 -powersave off