I think driving and banking are actually fine problem topics for an eight year old who's studying algebra. That sort of material comes with the territory, and a student needs to be able to do such problems if any sort of traditional mastery testing is performed.
On the other hand, I think it might actually help if these sorts of abstract concepts are presented without a concrete word-problem context early on. They're really pretty simple. I don't know what child interested in and ready for algebra wouldn't grasp at least the substitution method quickly with a clear and simple example, since the substitution principle is so basic to algebra in general. My son loved learning how to deal with systems of equations, even without dancing bears
, because he found the techniques interesting and very practical for solving the equations.
