This concept is common in everyday life. Parents want to know the average salary earned by teachers. Sports fans keep track of a baseball player’s batting average.

In your family, you might be interested in the average amount you spend on groceries in a month.

Ask your middle schooler to help. Save your grocery receipts. At the end of the month, ask her to add up the totals. Then have her divide by the number of receipts. This finds the mean amount your family spends on food shopping every month.

She could also find the mean price of things you shop for. To do this, have her divide the total spent in one grocery trip by the number of things you bought.

Finally, tell your child the amount you budgeted for groceries in a month. Then let her compare that number with the amount you are really spending. Ask her to tell you how well you are keeping to your budget. Or suggest she make a chart that shows the difference in actual spending and budgeted spending.

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