I will be traveling around France this June both by train and rental car. We fly into Paris and have rail to Bordeaux where we will spend a week exploring. We then plan to make our way south by train. We have our train tickets to carcassonne. Once we get to provence we have a car. But from there we are not sure if we should purchase train tickets for the rest of our trip. We intend to take the train from Arles to Lyon then on to Chamonix.
Then back to Lyon and on to beaune. Then back to paris.
Any thoughts?

to clarify,I just don't know whether to purchase to train tickets now or wait until we are in france or maybe wait until we are closer to the date of departure.

PREM tickets, which are not just for the TGV, are sold three months in advance. The closer the date, the fewer of them are available. Try www.sncf.com

Well, my thoughts are, first, where are you planning to explore around Bordeaux? Because it's pretty boring territory without a car to take you into the Dordogne. Or at least out to Cap Ferret,Arcachon, and the Dune du Pylat.

If you wanted a good deal on train tickets, you needed to get online 3 months before your train travel dates.

I've always found Bordeaux to be the most boring city in France.