Like Roody says, kids are capable of handling responsibility. They need to understand what changes you're making, and why... and that what they do can help the family. What all they can do and understand depends on their maturity. If you're honest with them, they will learn a lot from this. (and if you're not honest... they'll learn from that too... and you might not like what they learn)

When you're a kid, this kind of instability and insecurity *really* sucks. As a kid, you don't have any control over the situation, and you feel really helpless. Anything you as their dad can do to minimize that will make things less traumatic for them. There's 9 of them, so they've *really* got you and their mom outnumbered.

A bankruptcy is pretty temporary for you as an adult. For a kid, it's most of their life. It's really important to make sure they can get to school, interact with their friends, and get a well rounded education... moving out to the country might be counterproductive for that, especially if the only way to get to school is via school bus. If it is possible to rent a cheaper place that's in town where they can walk to get around, that's better for them. Knowing how to butcher a chicken is a useful skill... but so is calculus. They need access to both .