the first place to get serious about being responsible for your own life is food. I'm continually surprised at how people have extensive survivalist fantasies and are very interested in imagining how they might set up their off the grid life, but they aren't capable of basic kitchen stuff. And I'm not talking about cooking skills specifically even, I know people who are good cooks but they can't run a kitchen, whereas there are average cooks who can turn out multiple meals per day. This requires an entire set of interlocking skills around budgeting and mealplanning and cleaning and organization that are kind of invisible if you have them but that's the place to start.
the fast food just has to go. I have zero objections to fast food as a concept, but buying fast food is giving money to your enemies. It's very difficult to detach ourselves from globalist corporate kudzu but this a branch you can chop down and never let grow again.
You can immediately spot someone unpracticed and lacking skills when they say they "don't have time to cook" and "every meal takes an hour from start to finish".
I took that long when I was 10 years old and the more practice I got the less time it took. Now my meals take 15-30 minutes start to finish, including cleaning the dishes and counter because I do most of it while things are cooking.
I have a family member who only started cooking when they left for college, out of necessity, and they made the same complaints... for about four months and then they started speeding up and now make plenty of different home cooked meals with ease - and enjoy it.
The step up is preparing a little more than your family needs and freezing off the extra so you can have lazy days (or sick days) where you can pull from storage and still eat good. I love to freeze off chicken soup and oxtail stew especially for sick days. It's a nice alternative if you don't like bulk cooking and offers a bit more variety as you build up different meals over time.
you cannot make your own educational systems
You absolutely can homeschool your kids, and create or participate in homeschool co-ops with other parents. On average, homeschooling take two hours of hands on time per day. The rest is helping with chores, gardening (if you have a backyard or community garden), self-directed work like reading/writing/art, and play/sports.
Yes you have to only work part time (preferably from home) or not at all, and it takes some sacrifice to afford it, but it is absolutely worth it especially if your kid gets bored in school easily or has any issues that require special attention. Plus it means more time spent with your kids which is time you're unlikely to get the opportunity for in the future.
